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The Guardian
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Next up, the Ashes – and England will need Ben Stokes at his all-round best
The England-India epic that ended up like two weary prizefighters trading blows will live long in the memory – a 2‑2 classic for which the players on both sides deserve immense credit. Not that Mohammed Siraj, still hitting 90mph on the speed gun on the 25th day, showed weariness. If anything, he could well hold the key to solving the world's energy problems. Plaudits in particular go to three men who stepped up bravely when other sports would have simply subbed them off: Shoaib Bashir bowled with a broken left hand at Lord's; Rishabh Pant batted with a broken foot at Old Trafford; and then Chris Woakes, Horatio Nelson armed with a Gray-Nicolls, followed him in folklore at the Oval. Don't be fooled by the white flannels and the stoppages for tea – Test cricket is a brutal sport. Although it has been said in some quarters – most notably Nasser Hussain but other prominent voices too – that England getting over the line at the Oval and winning the series 3-1 would have been a 'travesty'. After all, India were the away side, dominated the run charts – four players in the top five – and had four of the six leading wicket-takers. They won more sessions, goes the argument, and lost all five tosses, indisputably. Sure. But a travesty? England chased down 371 to win at Headingley, defended a mere 193 at Lord's, and then, at 2-1 up, forced India into a remarkable rearguard at Old Trafford by sticking 669 on the board – the highest total of the series. Had this been followed by 10 men reeling in 374 at the Oval, their second‑highest run chase and breaking the ground's 123-year-old record by 111 runs, 3-1 would surely have been well earned. None of which is to say a fair outcome was not landed upon. Shubman Gill's never-say-die tourists won the deciding final round with a serious display of heart and skill. They were more than good value for the drawn series. The point is more that Test scorelines reflect all outputs – teams are only as strong as their weakest links – and even then can still come down to clutch moments or freak incidents. The 2009 Ashes, when Australia similarly dominated the runs and wickets charts yet lost 2-1, comes to mind. Brendon McCullum accepts England have "room to improve" before the Ashes but the head coach believes the intensity of their dramatic drawn series against India will help them to meet the challenge. McCullum was honest enough to chalk up the 2-2 scoreline as a "fair reflection" on seven weeks of hard-fought, demanding cricket, with India grabbing a share of the new Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with a thrilling six-run win at the Oval. That meant England were one hit from claiming an outright victory that would have sent them to Australia this winter with the biggest scalp of the Bazball era. Instead, they will travel having last defeated one of their "big three" rivals in Alastair Cook's farewell series in 2018. "It's been a magnificent series, as good as I've been involved with or witnessed in my time. We played some excellent cricket and at times, with the pressure India put us under, we came up a little bit short," McCullum said. "You're always learning any time you get to see guys having to dig deep and go to places they've maybe not been before. We'll let this one sit and we'll digest it. "We're in the middle now, halfway through what we knew was going to be an unbelievable 12 months of Test cricket. We know we've got some room to improve. But to be involved in a series of such pressure over a period like this teaches you to be tough and builds resilience within you. A lot of our guys will have learnt a lot and that can only be a good thing." One thing England may reflect on is their decision to keep the emerging talent of Jacob Bethell in camp for the most of the summer, rather than releasing him to play first-class cricket. He has played just one County Championship match for Warwickshire this year, while travelling as a non-playing squad member with the Test team. When he was called on as Ben Stokes's injury replacement, he made 11 runs in two innings and was dismissed in a pressurised chase playing a wild slog. McCullum refused to chide him for that, though. "Beth will be back and better for the experience, I'm sure he'll learn from it. The good thing was he took the positive option. He got out doing it, but no one ever regretted being positive, right?" So does the next Ashes, inevitably – something which England's head coach, Brendon McCullum, fancies his players will now be hardened for given the intensity of the cricket in the past six weeks. Although it is a concerning trend that in five of their past six series they have won the first Test and lost the last and no, with World Test Championship points at stake these days, none of them can be described as dead rubbers. The Ashes schedule thankfully has more generous spacing than the series just gone, with two nine-day breaks separating the first, second and third Tests. A cynic might wonder if it has been devised to get Australia's great yet greybeard attack through what tends to be the 'live' bit. Either way, this can only be a good thing, giving the best players the best chance to stay on the park and in turn producing the best possible spectacle. England will certainly not be complaining, with their fast‑bowling stocks stretched to breaking point against India. For all the promise of Jofra Archer's 90mph-plus return, and Gus Atkinson with eight wickets on his Test comeback, it is hard to escape the sense that their hopes of competing in Australia hinge on Ben Stokes playing as a fully fledged all-rounder. This was his best series with the ball, 17 wickets at 25, quick and skilful. But bits still flew off and he ended it watching the finale from the sidelines. In terms of the batting, not a great deal has been learned, which is to say their strengths and weaknesses remain roughly the same: murderous when the conditions are in their favour, vulnerable when the ball moves, and pegged around the all-time greatness of Joe Root. Increased pragmatism? This did occur but chiefly when Jasprit Bumrah was playing, not least the steady climb to 387 at Lord's with an uncharacteristic run-rate of 3.44. 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 The chase at the Oval has invited some criticism, some harsh – Harry Brook took them close only by playing the kind of shot to which he eventually got out – and some valid. They struggled to cope with a Dukes ball that swung late in its life (a turnaround from the ones that turned to mush earlier in the series). Leaning into their aggressive tendencies has served them well in the main but, as has been widely noted, the surfaces in Australia have been spicier of late. The Kookaburra ball's seam stays prominent for longer, too. Perhaps the bigger miss was the final day at Edgbaston, rather than falling just short of their latest huge chase. After a morning lost to rain England were tasked with seeing out 80 overs from three down, aided by a flat pitch on which bowlers struggled for impact with the older ball. Yet they lasted just 52.1 overs on the day. Compare and contrast with India seeing out five sessions in Manchester from a starting point of none for two (even if Root dropping Ravindra Jadeja first ball was another sliding doors moment). With no more Tests before the big push it appears only injury will dislodge the incumbents in the top seven. The sight of Stokes consoling Jacob Bethell after his tortured 31-ball five during the final collapse was probably driven in part by guilt at a young talent not exactly being given the best chance to succeed. Ollie Pope, even after another series that featured an early century but a final average of 34, will likely start at No 3 in Perth. All of which sounds a bit downbeat about a side that came within one hit of beating an India team who, save for Bumrah breaking down during the deciding Sydney Test, might well have drawn 2-2 in Australia earlier this year. Nevertheless, they will need to improve in a number of areas if they are to change the perceptions in that part of the world.
News18
31-07-2025
- Sport
- News18
Not Shoaib Bashir! Nathan Lyon Feels 34-Year-Old Star Is England's Best Spinner
Last Updated: Since making his Test debut for England against India in Vizag last year, Shoaib Bashir has dismissed 68 batters in 19 matches played so far. Shoaib Bashir was England's first-choice spin bowler in the ongoing five-match Test series against India. The 21-year-old spinner, who made his Test debut for Poms against India in Visakhapatnam last year, dismissed a total of 10 Indian batters in the first three matches but was ruled out of the last two matches after suffering a finger injury at Lord's. After Bashir was ruled out, England recalled Liam Dawson to the Test squad after more than eight years and he even got a chance to play at Old Trafford. In his first red-ball match for the English team since 2017, Dawson has however only able to take one wicket. England had an option to recall Jack Leach as well but their selectors choose otherwise. But according to legendary Australian spinner Nathan Lyon, the 34-year-old Leach is England's best bet in the Ashes tour later this year. 'In my eyes, Jack Leach is still their best spinner," Lyon was quoted as saying by Indian Express. 'It is a massive role, and it can be a massive challenge for people who haven't done it in the past in these conditions," Lyon said of spin bowling in Australia. 'But I'm not going to let my secrets out so they come out and perform well out here. Our guys know how to play spin really well in this country. That's probably what helped me produce my skill to where it is at the moment. I know I'll keep trying getting better, and we'll see how their spinners go," he said. 'I obviously played with Jimmy Anderson last year at Lancashire, and they basically said that they're picking Bashir to do what I do. So I took a little bit of pride out of Jimmy respecting a little bit of what I've been able to do in my career. But Bashir has been okay," he said. England are also grooming Jacob Bethell, a batsman who bowls left-arm spin. 'Jacob Bethell is playing this Test match (tonight at The Oval) and he looks like he'll take up the spin bowling from Liam Dawson," he added. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Daily Mail
30-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Ben Stokes' absence offers a worrying glimpse into Ashes grilling... England will be hard pressed to beat Australia without talisman meets Superman, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH
No sooner had Ben Stokes been declared unfit for the series finale against India than thoughts turned, in something close to blind panic, to the Ashes. Because if the last few weeks have confirmed anything, it's that England will be hard pressed to beat Australia without him. Bazball would be declared dead even before it had faced its ultimate challenge, and the Australian media – still high-fiving each other after England's churlishness on the final evening in Manchester – would go into overdrive. It hardly bears thinking about. Yet the restructuring of the team for the fifth Test at The Oval provided an unsettling glimpse of the future: with England understandably keen to field four seamers on a green-looking surface, the absence of Stokes has created an imbalance solved only by the dropping of Liam Dawson, the team's lone frontline spinner. Dawson might have been omitted in any case after sending down 62 overs for a single wicket on his return to Test cricket at Old Trafford, an experience that included a very public one-to-one tutorial from Stokes as England walked off at tea on the last day. But what if Stokes breaks down again during the Ashes, leaving an unbearable onus on Shoaib Bashir, the 21-year-old off-spinner who would then form a crucial part of a four-man attack? Again, the scenario is unthinkable. But it's not as if it was unforeseeable. Stokes has bowled 140 overs in this series, 23 more than his previous-heaviest workload, in his debut series in Australia in 2013-14. Throw in 11 overs against Zimbabwe in May, and he has not endured a heavier home summer since 2017, when he played in seven Tests rather than five. All the while, his body has creaked and groaned, becoming a story in its own right, much as Denis Compton's knee did in the 1950s. The kneecap was eventually removed and sent for safekeeping to Lord's, where it lives in a biscuit tin – a curious memory of a more innocent time. Stokes has put himself through the wringer so vigorously, so often, that his list of ailments is a little longer: two operations on his left index finger, surgery on his left knee, hamstring trouble and now a grade-three tear of a right shoulder muscle. That's before any mention of the break he took to look after his mental health in 2021. He has put body and soul on the line for his country, and his body has rebelled once more. Clearly, he knows no other way. Even so, should he have taken things easier? During India's first innings at Lord's, England's bowling coach Tim Southee was sent down to the boundary by the pavilion to suggest Stokes remove himself from the attack after one long spell. In the second, with the game on the line, he followed a burst of nine overs with one of 10: talisman meets Superman. Then, in Manchester, he bowled eight overs in a row on the final morning, and clutched his right arm in pain after every delivery. Inspirational and selfless, certainly. But was he pushing his luck? Later, he outlined his philosophy: 'Pain is just an emotion.' It turns out pain is rather more than that. Stokes being Stokes, he has no regrets. 'When I'm out on the field, I play to win and give everything I possibly can,' he said, attending the pre-match press conference as if he, not stand-in Ollie Pope, were still in charge. 'If I feel there's a moment in a game where I need to put everything I'm feeling aside, I'll do that because it's how much this team means to me, how much playing for England means to me, how much winning means to me. Being a professional sportsman, injuries are part of this game and I can't do anything about that.' Stokes's absence has created room, at long last, for Jacob Bethell, who now has the chance to prove why England were wrong to ignore him for the first four Tests. But it also picked at the scab that periodically troubles this team. When Stokes is missing, 11 players seem inadequate to cover all bases. And if his rehab extends beyond the 10-week upper limit outlined by England, and drifts towards the first Ashes Test at Perth on November 21, that scab could become a full-blown wound – one from which his team may struggle to recover.
Daily Mail
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Liam Dawson brings control to England's attack - here's how he can put himself right in the Ashes mix, writes NASSER HUSSAIN
We used to have a saying in selection: Pick on character. And I think Liam Dawson has got an abundance of character. He would have been nervous yesterday because you're always a better player when you're out of the side. To come into the team mid-series is not easy, especially when you have been out of it for eight years and a lot of people have been calling for your return. However much he says he is just taking everything as a bonus at his age, it is still playing for England in an iconic series, that the country is taking about and that's started to kick off. So when you're suddenly brought in, you will feel the heat and you have to perform. And he certainly did that yesterday. Dawson is the polar opposite to the man he has replaced, Shoaib Bashir. He is a veteran left-arm spinner with 15 five-wicket hauls in first-class cricket and knows his game inside out. He is the finished article. Bashir, meanwhile, is a young right arm off-spinner who was plucked from nowhere from a social media feed because he has a high release point. What Dawson brings to this England team is control, which Bashir is still seeking and looking for. On the first day at Old Trafford, when it's not spinning a lot, you need to offer your team and your captain that control so that he can rotate the seamers at the other end. Dawson did that beautifully. India's run rate dropped in the second session because of his control. Bashir gets more over spin, drop and bounce because he is taller than Dawson and has that high release point. If you think of Bashir's wicket to win the Test at Lord's, the ball span back and rolled on to Mohammed Siraj's stumps because it bounced up on him. Dawson, with his lower action, may struggle to get that. But he is more accurate and challenges the pad of the right hander, as well as the outside edge of the left hander from that rough and with the drift that he gets. We saw that with his wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. Because Dawson is landing it in the rough all the time, Jaiswal didn't know if it was going to spin or not, and his natural variation and drift meant he took the outside edge and it carried to Harry Brook at first was also very good captaincy from Ben Stokes. Jaiswal is a fine player of spin, as Tom Hartley found out in India. But Stokes put a deep point in, which may have made Jaiswal push at the ball and open the blade, trying to get a single to the boundary. What Dawson also has in his favour over Bashir, and another left-arm spinner Jack Leach, is that he is a multi-dimensional cricketer. He is very good in the field and a very good No8. With Dawson batting at eight, Chris Woakes at nine, Brydon Carse at 10 and Jofra Archer at 11, that is suddenly a very good lower order, which is going to be needed not only in the rest of this series, but also in Australia in the winter. My former England coach Duncan Fletcher always wanted complete cricketers in his team. We had to move on from Phil Tufnell, who was a wonderful left-arm spinner and I absolutely loved captaining, because he didn't bat and didn't field, and we picked Ashley Giles, who was very good at gully and got you useful runs. If Dawson has two really good games against India, the debate will be about whether he should become England's No1 spinner and play against Australia. But that's for another time. He's had one good day and he's got one wicket – but he did his role and that's all you can ask of anyone you bring into your team.
BBC News
23-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Dawson makes England a better side
England are a better side with veteran spinner Liam Dawson included, says former captain Michael his first Test for eight years, and only his fourth in total, the 35-year-old dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal with his seventh ball on day one of the fourth Test against Dawson has a stellar domestic record with both bat and ball but was consistently overlooked by England for a variety of other options during his absence."He is the kind of cricketer as a captain you say 'give me control, a few runs and you field nicely'," Vaughan told the Test Match Special podcast."It is the all-round package and for this England side, and going forward to Australia, they are stronger with this style of cricketer in it." Dawson's opportunity, one repeatedly called for by fans of the county game, came after Shoaib Bashir broke a finger during England's victory in the third Test at Lord's last week and was ruled out of the being unable to hold down a place at his county, Bashir, 21, has been England's first-choice spinner since the start of last year with England banking on his has taken 10 wickets across the first three Tests but those scalps came at an average of 54.10. Dawson, in contrast, held a consistent line throughout his 15 overs at Old Trafford and conceded 45 runs as England limited India's scoring - the tourists closing on the bat, Bashir comes in at number 11 and has a top Test score of 13, while Dawson has 18 first-class hundreds."On the pitches we are seeing in the UK and potentially Australia I want to see a batting line-up that is absolutely packed," Vaughan said."The over-spin of Bashir is very dangerous but what you require in this England team on the pitches they are playing is control."I don't think he [Dawson] is going to get six or seven-fors but he will get two or three. If the pitch breaks up he may get four or five-for." Dawson took seven wickets in three Tests in his first spell in international cricket between December 2016 and July his time away he has become the leading spinner in county cricket - he was last year's Professional Cricket Association men's player of the year - and a regular on the global T20 franchise leaving him out of the tour to India last year - the tour on which Bashir made his England debut despite having only six first-class matches to his name - England's managing director Rob Key said Dawson was "probably not someone who wants to go around India as the 15th or 16th man".Speaking on Wednesday, Dawson said he has never turned down a Test tour, although he did fulfill a contract in the 2023 Pakistan Super League rather than travel to Bangladesh for a white-ball series."I think the age I've got to, if I'm honest, I didn't think I'd play again, it's not something that I'd worry about," he said."I just tried to enjoy my cricket which I've made pretty clear. It's cool to be back involved, I've got to try and enjoy each day I'm involved and playing for England."I knew what to expect coming into it for a second time so that helped."Of course I was nervous but nerves are a good thing. The older you get and the more you play, you learn how to manage those nerves."
