At the halfway point of the Men's T20 World Cup group stages, neither England nor Australia are in the top two spots needed to make the next round. If both don't qualify, expect the next World Cup to be restructured to ensure the Big Three are guaranteed more matches.

With that short innings from captain Harry Brook, he probably has time for a quick pint before he has to face the media. Not that he has a problem, obviously...

The thing to remember about the ECB putting Sussex into special measures due to its long term financial mismanagement is that the ECB hired the then-CEO of Sussex CCC as its Managing Director Of The Professional Game just two year ago. You've got to laugh... www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

Rob Key apparently gave Harry Brook a "final warning" three months ago regarding his drunken behaviour. What followed showed Key's complete lack of authority or respect from the players. They clearly see him more as a golf partner than a boss. He has to go. www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2026...

We would like to apologise to the ECB, specifically Brendon McCullum and Rob Key. We have long said that the ECB couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, but this team has demonstrated that they can organise one anywhere. This is progress. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

The tough pill for England and their fans to swallow is that this was a genuine opportunity to win an overseas Ashes. Australia had a relatively weak batting lineup, and only one of their first choice bowlers through most of this series, but still dominated England.

McCullum and Stokes can think themselves lucky that they are not in football, because a performance like last night would be framed as them having "lost the dressing room" and they would be hounded until they were sacked.

Under Brendon McCullum, England's Test team haven't won a series against India or Australia (in four attempts), and finished fifth out of nine teams in the 2023-25 World Test Championship. There's clearly room for improvement here.

While Sir Andrew Strauss uses England's failures to tout his 2022 High Performance Review, he doesn't say that Rob Key was a co-author of that review. Key has also implemented parts of that review, which we did a point-by-point critique of at the time: beingoutsidecricket.com/2022/11/02/t...

Famously, Olympic athletes prepare for the biggest sporting event of their lives by going on a week-long bender a few days beforehand. It really puts them in the physical and mental state required to reach the very pinnacle of their abilities.

McCullum was right. If anything, England overprepared for this series. After all, they could have lost 3-0 without practicing at all...

Balls taken to lose an Ashes series in Australia: 2010/11: 10,010* 2006/07: 7,022 2017/18: 6,623 2013/14: 6,443 2001/02: 5,380 2021/22: 5,115 This series is now at 4,480, which is 105.5 overs less. The only way this isn't the quickest loss this century is if England win or draw.

Ben Stokes didn't bowl at all today, which is especially worrying considering that he has England's best bowling average in this series and the must-win nature of the match. Whatever the issue, it must be serious.

As it stands overnight, while he is not out, Jofra Archer has the second-highest batting average for England in this Ashes. Even if he was dismissed without scoring another run, he would still be ahead of Crawley, Jacks, Pope, Duckett and Smith, halfway through the series.

Matthew Fisher has taken two wickets for 259 runs in four innings during the Lions tour of Australia, which is an average of 129.50. By comparison, Nathan Gilchrist has taken nine wickets at an average of 32.56 for the Lions.

Jofra Archer: Has a higher batting average than Stokes, Duckett and Smith so far in this series. Would have a much better bowling average if England could catch. Has bowled more overs for England in this series than everyone bar Atkinson. Gets clicks when he's in the headline.

The men's England cricket team is good at winning some things. They have won the toss in their last seven Tests. In those matches, their record is won 2, lost 4, drew 1.

England survive a whole session without losing a wicket, but because they only scored at 2.46 runs per over it doesn't count and is in fact a moral victory for Australia.

Everything for England to play for tomorrow. Will they lose by an innings, or lose by a mere ten wickets? Wake up at 4am to find out!

Australia are into the tail now...

'Only' 12 overs short today, a huge improvement on the 16 lost yesterday. England will probably get hit with a points penalty in the World Test Championship though because, unlike Australia, they didn't take their chances in the field.

England have skipped directly to Step 4 in the cycle, renewing the contracts of everyone bar Kate Cross from the squad who lost the Ashes 16-0 and then limped out of the following ODI World Cup. It doesn't look like anyone new will be in the T20 World Cup team next year.

More trouble at Middlesex. Some questions members might want to ask at Tuesday's public meeting: 1) How much has Middlesex spent on legal fees and crisis management consultants during Cornish's tenure so far? 2) Will the club be funding Cornish's legal defense?

England have announced that they will be sending just three players from the senior squad to the pink ball warmup game this week: Bethell, Potts and Tongue. The reaction if they lose the next Test could get extremely ugly. www.ecb.co.uk/news/4408007

Positives for England to take out of this Test: The bowlers won't be tired. Every time they get dismissed playing an attacking shot in this series they can say they were trying to emulate Travis Head. The Lake Karrinyup golf course is open on Sundays.

Obviously it's not going to be a major topic of conversation, but the two teams were 16 overs short of the allotted overs today. That's the equivalent of more than a full hours' play.

Joe Root out now as well, just 100 short of his first century in Australia...

It's nice of Steve Smith to keep bowling Scott Boland at the other end to Starc, or this would seem a real horror show for England.

If you can tell what's happening in an Ashes from the first ball, then Zak Crawley is going to play like Dom Sibley crossed with Sir Alastair Cook.

In the England v Lions match today: Ben Stokes: 6/52 The other five England bowlers: 4/322 Maybe they do need more than one warmup match? live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=m_s...

A bold move from the ECB, which increases the average pay gap between the men's and women's Hundred from roughly £50k per player to £70k per player. www.thehundred.com/news/4393081

Tammy Beaumont - 34 Amy Jones - 32 Heather Knight - 34 Nat Sciver-Brunt - 32 Linsey Smith - 30 Danni Wyatt-Hodge - 34 Two years until the next Ashes series. Four years until the next women's ODI World Cup. How many of these cricketers have played their last ODI for England?

Ravi Bopara. That’s just it. No explanation needed..

There is a two day T10 competition starting today between three SACA teams, with teams representing The Cricketer and ESPNcricinfo playing right now. Possibly the greatest exhibition of British Asian cricketing talent ever produced. No comms or graphics: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq0e...

Sky have released a documentary about racism in English cricket on YouTube. Even though it feels very cautious and arguably pulls its punches, it doesn't paint the ECB or English cricket in a great light. Surprising to see from their media partner. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrrf...

This article on the ambitions of The Hundred's new owners and the future of the competition does not mention the women's competition even once. The currently very successful women's competition feels like an afterthought for the people who are now in charge. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

England's ODI loss today, with a poor performance both bowling and fielding, is their last game before the ODI World Cup in October. It feels like they wasted this summer, not trying anyone or anything new after their embarrassing Ashes performance, and haven't progressed at all.

Read this on the page of an amateur cricket club website 30 minutes ago and haven’t stopped laughing since…😂. What does that make us? The four horsemen of the cricket apocalypse?? 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

Watching the #WIvAUS game in Grenada and that definitely looks a pretty stadium. The 3 I’ve not been to that are absolutely on my bucket list are: Basin Reserve, Newlands, Eden Gardens. Which cricket grounds are on your bucket list??

It's always kind of funny when organisations which have spent decades chasing money suddenly find a line they won't cross. "This source of money would harm the sport, not like the people we've sold out to..." www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

England's run rate falls below 3 per over in the innings. They should bring Dom Sibley into the team to speed things up...

A lot of cricket clubs could use some guidance with regards to their social media, but maybe the people who were committing blasphemy against the Pope on X/Twitter three months ago aren't the best people to be telling everyone about "the right tone of voice".

Scouting 94% of the population looking to find the best cricketers? It's such a crazy, out of the box idea that it might just work...

A bowler has received a 12 month ban for doping, having taken a drug prescribed to him. The longest ever suspension for racist conduct given by the ECB is six matches. This accurately demonstrates the proportionality of how seriously English cricket treats these two issues.

Well if you’re a Yorkshire or Worcestershire fan, sadly I have some bad news for you..

That’s a chat even us non WK’s would love to hear. 2 insanely good pure glove men..

The Kent v Middlesex County Championship game has both teams playing their greatest hits. First, Middlesex have collapsed in the first innings and were all out for 222 just after Tea. Then Zak Crawley misses the ball completely, and is out LBW for a duck.

Zak Crawley in Test match form already...

This means that Brook would be expected to play virtually every match for England in all three formats, as well as perform all of the extra responsibilities of captaincy such as selection meetings and press duties. That is a massive workload for such an important player.