The changes in England's ICC men's team rankings from the day Rob Key was hired as Director Of Cricket to today: Tests: 5th ▶️ 5th ODI: 2nd ▶️ 8th T20: 2nd ▶️ 2nd Either not improving or getting worse in every format. Luckily for him, things are going well off the field...

The funniest outcome would be if Stokes appealed this because, on the face of it, it looks like the ECB have gone "Well we actually can't prove you did anything wrong, but we have to punish you for something or we look ridiculous." And he probably has really good lawyers.

Across the four World Test Championships so far, England have been docked 48 points due to slow over rates. The other eight teams combined have been penalised 59 points, Pakistan having the most at 21.

If it turns out that there wasn't actually a curfew in place on the night according to the policy actually given to the players, or it was ambiguous, then Rob Key should be fired. He made a big play of trying to stamp his authority on the team, and it's backfired spectacularly.

It's a good thing that Rob Key has repeatedly rejected the notion that the men's England team has a drinking problem, otherwise this might be seen as some kind of pattern...

England's 10th wicket stand was their second-highest partnership in the innings, and number 11 Shoaib Bashir was the third-highest individual scorer. Embarassing.

It's quite generous to suggest that Middlesex are not already irrelevant, but it's not clear whether the revolting former players are presenting any answers to Middlesex's issues.

Luke Wright resigned as England men's selector in January, and no replacement is likely until May. Brendon McCullum is having a three month vacation in New Zealand. Who is going to be watching the County Championship to decide who will replace the underperforming Test players?

The story of Bazball is, as is appropriate, consistently doubling down. First Rob Key added an extra two years to McCullum's contract, and now Richard Gould personally backing both McCullum and Key to turn things around. It's a risky gamble. If it fails, all three have to go.

If English cricket only has half the number of Dukes balls needed for the cricket season, there are two clear solutions: 1) Seven rounds of the Championship with the Kookaburra red ball. 2) Division 2 plays with the Kookaburra all season.

Instead of seeing interviews with hard-hitting questions like "Are you looking forward to playing for Kent?" or "Are you disappointed about this winter?", lots of people are now seriously asking if they're covering up something major. The ECB *stinks* at public relations inews.co.uk/sport/cricke...

If McCullum keeps his job now, then that is locked in until late 2027. There's no other convenient times in the schedule to make a change. If the England team falters, it should be Rob Key who gets the sack. This would give his successor time to try and 'fix' McCullum.

Remember when The Hundred was specifically designed to attract cricket fans from the British Pakistani community because it would shake off the "pale, stale and male" image of county cricket and the England team?

People opposing Strauss' possible return to the ECB are suggesting Atherton, Hussain or even Vaughan as alternatives. This misses the point. Commentators main skill is to talk plausibly about cricket. When hired in more hands-on roles, in all sports, they almost always fail.

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...