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England Cricket 2025
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Jacob Bethell is just 22 and an undoubted talent. I am a massive fan of his but he is a thoroughly undercooked one. He spent a lot of last summer with his feet up when he should have been out in the middle for his county - 43 red ball runs all summer. He has yet to hit a red ball hundred in his career.
Compare that to Marnus Labuschagne. He started the season playing for his club and has also had seven games for Queensland in the first couple of months. In eight innings for the State this season he has hit five hundreds. That's a 31-year-old with 297 innings and 34 tons behind him.
Labuschagne's not been hiding because he has to fight for his place in Australia's Ashes side. It's a coin toss between Bethell and Pope for a place. How did we get to this position?4 -
I would tell Pope that he has the first 2 tests against Australia.
If he performs well then he keeps his place.
Should he fail in those 2 tests then Bethell gets his chance.0 -
I'd do the opposite. In big series when Pope has gone into the series with questions over his place he has scored a ton first up. India home and away examples that jump out. I'm hoping the questions over his place do the same here.blackpool72 said:I would tell Pope that he has the first 2 tests against Australia.
If he performs well then he keeps his place.
Should he fail in those 2 tests then Bethell gets his chance.
In both those series he has done little else so maybe we should drop him for the 2nd test though!1 -
I see Alistair Cook is advertising The Ashes on TNT. Do you think this might mean he'll be part of the comms team ?0
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He’s been advertised as part of their team from the off, along with Steven Finn and Graeme Swangolfaddick said:I see Alistair Cook is advertising The Ashes on TNT. Do you think this might mean he'll be part of the comms team ?0 -
He is on co-commentary duty along with Ebony Rainford-Brent, Graeme Swann and Seven Finngolfaddick said:I see Alistair Cook is advertising The Ashes on TNT. Do you think this might mean he'll be part of the comms team ?0 -
That's good then. I like Swann-y.Addick Addict said:
He is on co-commentary duty along with Ebony Rainford-Brent, Graeme Swann and Seven Finngolfaddick said:I see Alistair Cook is advertising The Ashes on TNT. Do you think this might mean he'll be part of the comms team ?0 -
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the updated Central Contract list for England Men’s international cricket.A total of 30 players have been awarded England Men’s Central Contracts - comprising 14 England Two-Year Central Contracts, 12 England Annual Central Contracts, and four England Development Contracts.England Men Centrally Contracted Players 2025–26England Two-Year Central Contracts (30 September 2027)Jofra Archer (Sussex)Gus Atkinson (Surrey)Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire)Harry Brook (Yorkshire)Jos Buttler (Lancashire)Brydon Carse (Durham)Sam Curran (Surrey)Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)Will Jacks (Surrey)Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)Joe Root (Yorkshire)Jamie Smith (Surrey)Ben Stokes (Durham)Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)England One-Year Central Contracts (30 September 2026)Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire)Sonny Baker (Hampshire)*Shoaib Bashir (Somerset)Zak Crawley (Kent)Liam Dawson (Hampshire)*Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)*Jamie Overton (Surrey)*Ollie Pope (Surrey)Matthew Potts (Durham)Phil Salt (Lancashire)Mark Wood (Durham)Luke Wood (Lancashire)**Denotes newly centrally contracted player for 2025–26England Development ContractsJosh Hull (Leicestershire)Eddie Jack (Hampshire)Tom Lawes (Surrey)Mitchell Stanley (Lancashire)0
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Interesting that Bethell and Duckett get two-year contracts but Crawley and Pope just the one. Is that a reflection of their position or that the former two play white ball international cricket too so less likely to be persuaded to go the franchise route?
Adil Rashid is the only frontline spinner to get a two-year contract and Jack Leach doesn't get one at all. One would have thought that Rehan Ahmed is someone who will be on the radar of franchises but, there again, his nearest rival(s) might be closer to home. Mark Wood's original three-year contract has just the one year to go so hasn't been extended.
As for these players nominated counties, Bashir is third choice at Somerset and unlikely to be selected and Yorkshire supporters must wonder who Rashid is - the last time he played for them was four seasons ago!!!2 -
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/4396363/australia-ashes-squad-first-test-perth-smith-captain-jake-weatherald-green-labuschagne-webster-george-bailey-selector-sean-abbott-brendan-doggett-josh-inglis-matt-renshaw
Australia go with the uncapped Jake Weatherald as their potential opener for the first test. Sean Abbott is probably the surprise selection there even if he's just carrying drinks.0 -
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Marnus opening and Green at 3 is my bet1
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Australia squad for first Test: Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.England's Ashes squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.0
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Tempting fate, that is the 'weakest' and possibly the oldest Ozzie squad I can remember for a long time. Also Weatherald is the first Darwin born potential test player I can ever recall0
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They do have another advantage. Australia has been pretty hot and humid. most if not all have been playing in their shield tournament. They're going to be much more used to being out in the field with the heat.
Shame we don't have a couple of warm up tests against their state teams like we used to.1 -
Lincsaddick said:Tempting fate, that is the 'weakest' and possibly the oldest Ozzie squad I can remember for a long time. Also Weatherald is the first Darwin born potential test player I can ever recall
500 years aggregate0 -
And only one under 300
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Hey, don’t underestimate us playing the Lions as a, oops sorry , THE , warm up game.Karim_myBagheri said:They do have another advantage. Australia has been pretty hot and humid. most if not all have been playing in their shield tournament. They're going to be much more used to being out in the field with the heat.
Shame we don't have a couple of warm up tests against their state teams like we used to.2 -
For those looking to plan which end of the day they are going to sacrifice some sleep see below - ending Christmas Day with the Ashes looks particularly inviting!
First Test: 21-25 November (02:30 GMT), Perth
Second Test: 4-8 December (04:30 GMT), Brisbane
Third Test: 17-21 December (00:00 GMT), Adelaide
Fourth Test: 25-29 December (23:30 GMT), Melbourne
Fifth Test: 3-7 January (23:30 GMT), Sydney
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@addick_addict . hope you don’t mind but have pinched your stats for a post on RedditAddick Addict said:First time in 42 years that we've lost all matches in an ODI against NZ.
Since the first game was played in The Hundred, England's record ODI in W23-L33 (41%).
We are currently ranked 8th in the world. If we were to only include our record against the top seven teams then that reads W10-L28 (26%).
In the five years prior to The Hundred, our record was W56-L21 (73%).
Full record (W-L)
Afghanistan (0-2)
Australia (2-8)
Bangladesh (3-1)
India (1-6)
Ireland (1-0)
Netherlands (4-0)
New Zealand (3-5)
Pakistan (1-0)
South Africa (3-6)
Sri Lanka (0-1)
West Indies (5-4)0 -
Prediction time:
Australia 3-1
Over to you.....
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No problemMrOneLung said:
@addick_addict . hope you don’t mind but have pinched your stats for a post on RedditAddick Addict said:First time in 42 years that we've lost all matches in an ODI against NZ.
Since the first game was played in The Hundred, England's record ODI in W23-L33 (41%).
We are currently ranked 8th in the world. If we were to only include our record against the top seven teams then that reads W10-L28 (26%).
In the five years prior to The Hundred, our record was W56-L21 (73%).
Full record (W-L)
Afghanistan (0-2)
Australia (2-8)
Bangladesh (3-1)
India (1-6)
Ireland (1-0)
Netherlands (4-0)
New Zealand (3-5)
Pakistan (1-0)
South Africa (3-6)
Sri Lanka (0-1)
West Indies (5-4)0 -
Can't argue with that prediction unfortunately.Addick Addict said:Prediction time:
Australia 3-1
Over to you.....0 -
A 3-2 defeat. I can see a couple of Tests where it all clicks, but others where our high risk style will backfire horribly.0
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2-2 draw , one test washed out.0
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Anyone else planning to be doing the nightshift at least for the first 2 Tests?0
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Same, 3-1 or 4-1 to the Aussies, hope I'm wrong.blackpool72 said:
Can't argue with that prediction unfortunately.Addick Addict said:Prediction time:
Australia 3-1
Over to you.....0 -
Heart says 3-2 to England.
Win the first lose the 2nd then win the next 2 with the Aussies getting a consolation win in the last when we throw away a winning position.
Head says 3-1 Aussies. With one rain affected draw.
If we don't win the first test it could even be worse than that. I suspect they will win the day-night 2nd test in which case at 2-0 down after 2 we could capitulate.0 -
Saw a stat that we could add Gower and Botham to our squad and the average age would still be lower than that of the Aussie squad.
All depends on the fitness of their ageing bowlers. If Cummins takes longer to come back then it's a lot of workload for the other 4 or throw in someone new to test cricket. A freak injury to Lyon on day one meaning their workloads are increased even further would be ideal.
Their batting is fragile, go hard at it early and it will crumble.1 -
I'll try staying up for at least the first session for the 1st Test. I'm assuming the 2nd Test is a day/nighter & if so will plan to miss the first session & start watching from the 2nd (around 7am ?).Zulu said:Anyone else planning to be doing the nightshift at least for the first 2 Tests?
I'm going for a drawn series.0 -
3-2 Aussies and what ifs everywhere0
