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Jasprit Bumrah's 5 wicket haul at Lord's and Root, Carse take England to 387. Archer gets 1 wicket.

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A record for Day 3 at MCG of over 83,000 in Australia India Fourth Test Cricket, the largest since 1937. The record for total attendance of 255,000 is likely to be broken. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar build a 127 run partnership and Reddy gets to 105. India are only 114 runs behind a massive Australian first innings of 474 with 1 wicket in hand.

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"Not ideal" says Ben Stokes, "yeah disappointing" says Steve Smith, about the 10mm of grass on the pitch that led to 20 wickets on the first day 36 wickets by the second day. Cricket Australia is disappointing a lot of fans when the Test match at MCG cricket grounds is over in 2 days- not since 1904 has something like this happened at MCCG- and there is an investigation, too much left to the cricket grounds preparation experts without supervision by Cricket Australia. Stokes says to be brutally honest it was bad for 90,000 fans. About England critics after losing 3 Tests, Stokes says that now goes to zero the idea of England not having won at all. Stokes and Root hug in the locker room, a sign of relief.

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England miss the tenacity and run scoring ability of Alastair Cook as they lose the Ashes. England was unable to come up with anything to match the legendary scoring of Australia's Steve Smith in the Ashes fourth Test with 210 and 82 in two briliiant knocks with the bat at Old Trafford on Sunday.  Cook reflects on his own period as Captain of the English side in his new book. He now plays county cricket for Essex after Test cricket drained him and he decided to retire. He says from the first time a Test cricketer gets on the scoreboard he is the subject of incessant reporting on averages for the batsmen- for whom there is no rest- because between the glorious hundred he is out for nought or 20 more often. He recalls his last game in Test cricket when he was able to score 147 in the second innings against India, and he considers himself so fortunate to be able to retire at that time. England is going through a period when it feels it is short on good batsmen. And Cook says after Strauss retired in 2012 he could not find a stable partner, not one of the 14 he batted with lasting long. What does he think of Steve Smith? Cook says he is phenomenal.  The best three batsmen he has seen- Lara, Ponting, and Kallis. The good batsmen in English country cricket are still too young. He thinks the best way to keep Test cricket strong is to have less of it so that it remains special. This way fans would be riveted. And this would mean players would not have to choose between franchise cricket and Test cricket. ...

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Disbelief at what happened in the Sydney cricket Test with the comments of Paine to Ashwin and the activity on the crease by Smith, as Indian batsmen held on to save the day. Readers comments are interesting. One reader says Brett Lee is the Australian bowler who should be the role model for Australia. Then again Richie Benaud from the sixties and seventies going far back is what the Australians need to go back to. Other readers say this is not just Australian cricket, it is cultural in Australia.

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What an amazing recovery Rishabh Pant has made after his Mercedes SUV crashed on the Delhi-Roorkee expressway, hitting a divider and went into flames. It was in January 2023 that surgery was done on Pant. After rehab work at the National Cricket Academy, water aerobic work and training, he is back to play Test cricket as wicketkeeper for the Indian side at Headingley and now at Edgbaston. He scored a century at Headingley.

Here he talks about his near death experience and his first question will he be able to play again, his mother's was will he be able to walk again. Dr Pardiwala, his orthopedic surgeon, was uncertain if Pant could ever play again. It shows miracles happen.

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Superb batting by Blackwood with 95 runs in the second innings and exceptional bowling by Gabriel gave West Indies a 4 wickets win over England. West Indies cricket team is in England for  a series of Test matches.

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BBC says this England team is fighting to avoid the worst Ashes cricket performance in a century. England lost the Second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane by 8 wickets- again. Mitchell Starc with 6 wickets for 75 runs in the first innings and batting in second innings for 77 runs was agains the key player in Brisbane. Neser with 5 wickets for 42 runs for Australia in the second innings reduced England's chances.

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Jasprit Bumrah will be the new captain for India's cricket team as it plays a final Test match against England led by Ben Stokes. Stokes led England to a 3-0 win in Test matches against New Zealand with Joe Root in top form.

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Australia defeat England by 71 runs in the Women's Cricket World Cup after sensational batting by Alyssa Healy who scored 170 runs. 

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Going to a baseball game or a cricket game, a soccer game or basketball game, used to be part of the experience of growing up as a child not only in America, but in many parts of Asia since the 1950's. Sports organizers are failing the public and the Nation, many nations, when they let prices keep out the vast majority of the young people from sports games. This is true of the New York Knicks games in 2026 with the San Antonio Spurs, with tickets transport, everything going up. Here DW.com asks important questions about the FIFA World Cup. Most of America's younger generation, the vast majority of children will be excluded from these games. DW.com writes about the cheapest ticket listed on the FIFA website at $8625 and one ticket listed for $690,000. When told the cheapest ticket for the first Paraguay US game was $1000 US president DJT said it was "ridiculous," that he woudn't pay that either, and expressed real disappointment. DW.com raises other questions about the sudden 50% increase in teams and 60% increase in games for the World Cup in 2026. Teams suddenly up from 32 to 48, and games from 64 to 104. If more smaller football associations or countries were to be added, would it have been better to try this out in smaller steps? Has this diluted the sporting quality of individual games. If more games why would prices jump this much? Last World Cup the average price of a ticket was the same as the list price and no resale markets to create artificially high prices in the stratosphere driving out most buyers. ESPN looks at he process that set these prices in the adjoining piece. ...

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Smith's second fastest century in 80 balls on the third day of the Second Test at Edgbaston in England's fighting spirit. Smith came in with Siraj on a hattrick with Root and Stokes out in successive deliveries and England down by 5 wickets.

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What happens in the minds of captains of cricket teams from Australia and England as they engaged in the Ashes cricket Test series under captains such as Vaughan and Cook going back to 1932-33 series is the subject of this essay in The Times. The secrets, the tactics and strategy, the mind setting, for what is a major event in the lives of the players and the people of the two countries. Everything from the role of the fast bowling, the wives and distractions for players, the mood in each country, the stress of losing 5-0 and maintaining a calm look are all part of this story of the amazing Ashes series.

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Gavaskar says of India in the First Test at Leeds Headingley, India's fielding was ordinary, not Test class. Catches were dropped, fielding was poor so that after five centuries India came up short. With India batting well in the second innings Gavaskar says England showed confidence that let Tongue and Woakes wind up the lower order. With Duckett's 149 with 21 fours and Crawley's 65 set up a two hundred run partnership, that Root and Smith were able to make it look easy to win by 5 wickets.

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South African captain Dean Elgar reflects on how he is handling the leadership role for the cricket team building understanding and trust of players from different cultures and social backgrounds in the team- white, black, Afrikaans, English Afrikaans, Indian. He brings a remarkable sensitivity to his role and describes his style of listening and acting as a friend off the field to learn about the players on his team. It is a role like no other captain of a sports team faces. Elgar says he does'nt think there is another country in the world that has to deal with this kind of dynamics in society.   He says there is always light at the end of the tunnel, a glimmer of hope, as he take on all this pressure without showing it. Seeing him as many will on television on the cricket field during the 3 Test series at Centurion, Johannesburg and Cape Town, one senses the kind of change in South Africa that gives so much hope and optimism for the future. He say he always thinks we must'nt stop learning from each other, we must sit down and listen more. This has made him more concerned and wary about the past and even more emotionally attached to the players, as he handles the huge amount of diversity- a massive learning curve with a lot of humility. On the day of the death of Desmond Tutu as cricket commentators talk about his humble and unselfish spirit, Dean Elgar appears to have defined his own role in just the right way.   ...

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Geoff Lemon compares the  youngest batters on the Indian and Australian Test cricket teams and their graceful batting, Shubman Gill and Cameron Green. Shubman Gill's century gave India a good start against Australia leading to superb batting from Kohli with 186 and his partnership with Axar Patel in the fourth Test match against Australia.

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Steve Smith the Australian batsman who was the  player of the Ashes cricket series last year says his two remaining goals are to win the Ashes in England, and to win a Test series with India.

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A sixth wicket partnership of 139 runs between Butler and Woakes gives England a 3 wicket win. At one point England who needed 277 runs to win were down 5 wickets for 117 runs. The first Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford turned out to be one of many Test cricket matches that England come back to win. England win by 3 wickets.

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As England and Australia prepare for Ashes cricket Test series, Mike Atherton looks at the two captains, Tim Paine for Australia and Joe Root for England. Tim Paine is an unlikely captain because of not playing in enough matches after hand injuries and surgeries. He is a Tasmanian and played on and off for Australia. He also came in unusual circumstances as a captain after failures of the Australian team, with his close relationship with coach Justin Langer. Joe Root by comparison is a top batsman and has made it to the top after playing well for England in many matches. 

The result is a contrast in the two sides. Yet in cricket as in any sport anything can happen. And the Australian side will do its best to upset any predictions.

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Jonny Bairstow finds himself through people he trusts back in Yorkshire, and finds that staying still works for him rather than chase the ball. After a disappointing start with Australia in the Ashes Bairstow is now with Joe Root England's top two batters. This story in the Indian Express says how he found his game and is now having joy in the game of cricket.

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Azaz Patel of New Zealand becomes only the third bowler in international cricket to take 10 wickets in one innings in the second Test India vs. New Zealand. He joins Jim Laker of England against Australia in 1956 and Anil Kumble India against Pakistan in 1999.

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The story told in The Times how England collapsed to a 4-0 loss in Ashes Cricket Tests against Australia in 2022. Lack of preparation, poor selection of bowlers, and a better prepared Australian team led to the debacle. There is also the history of performance in Australia- since 1990 England won only 6 Tests out of 45 Test played in Australia, and lost 32 Tests, with 7 drawn.

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The Indian Express looks at the 89 run partnership from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami for the 9th wicket that changed the game at Lord's cricket ground yesterday. India won by 151 runs after starting Day 5 poorly with loss of the wicket of Rishabh Pant.