Ashes | DD News

November 20, 2025 11:07 AM

Ashes triumph in Australia would be Stokes’s crowning achievement

For a player who has pushed England to unprecedented heights, Ben Stokes will strap the team to his back once again and hope to carry the nation to its cricketing Everest: reclaiming the Ashes on Australian soil. The flame-haired all-rounder has delivered repeatedly on the game's biggest stages, securing white-ball World Cups with career-defining knocks. But leading England to Ashes triumph over the next seven weeks would leave few in doubt about the 34-year-old's place among England's all-tim...

November 19, 2025 3:30 PM

England name pace bowler Mark Wood in squad for first Ashes Test

England have included pace bowler Mark Wood in a 12-player squad announced on Wednesday for the first Ashes test against Australia. Wood, cleared of a hamstring injury last week, returns to test action after more than a year, having last played in August 2024. The 35-year-old, who was one of England's standout bowlers in the 2021-22 series when he claimed 17 wickets, will be part of a potent pace attack also featuring Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes. Spinner Shoaib...

November 18, 2025 10:37 AM

Lack of transition leaves Australia reliant on ageing Ashes team

Australia are favourites to retain the Ashes over the next two months but anything short of their usual dominance over England on home soil is sure to reignite the debate over the pace of transition to a younger generation. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja and Travis Head are all in their mid to late 30s and form the core of the team bidding to keep hold of the urn for another 18 months. It would be a surprise, however, if all seven were stil...

November 18, 2025 10:35 AM

Fearless England ready to shake off weight of failure

Recent history will weigh heavily on the shoulders of England's players when they take the field in Perth on Friday seeking to end a lamentable run of Ashes failure in Australia. They have lost 13 of their previous 15 test matches Down Under, drawing the other two, and you must go all the way back to 2011 for the last England victory. Confident noises are coming out of England's camp, though, and whether or not Brendon McCullum's side can turn the tide, one thing is for sure, the touring side ...

November 16, 2025 5:05 PM

Relief for England as scans clear Mark Wood of injury ahead of Ashes

England's pace spearhead Mark Wood has been cleared of a hamstring injury, the country's cricket board (ECB) said on Saturday, a major relief for the side days ahead of their first Ashes test against Australia. Fast bowler Wood left the field on Thursday complaining of hamstring stiffness after bowling eight overs for an England XI against a second-string England Lions side during an Ashes warm-up game. "Following precautionary scans on Friday, England fast bowler Mark Wood has been cleared of...

November 16, 2025 4:01 PM

Australia hit with injury blow as Hazlewood ruled out of Ashes opener

Australia have suffered another blow ahead of the Ashes opener against England after fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to a hamstring injury on Saturday, further weakening their bowling attack after the loss of captain Pat Cummins. Hazlewood went to hospital for scans on a possible hamstring injury during a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday, but was initially cleared of a strain and was set to travel to Perth for the first Ashes test. However, later tests conf...

November 12, 2025 10:15 AM

Ben Stokes says England will be ready for Ashes opener despite lean preparations

Captain Ben Stokes brushed off concerns about England's Ashes preparations on Wednesday, saying there was no way the squad could prepare in the same way touring teams of the past had, given the demands of the modern game. England great Ian Botham raised questions on Tuesday about the preparations for the opening test, which amount to a few days' squad training followed by an internal match in Perth before the series opener begins in the same city on November 21. "I don't really know what we'...

November 11, 2025 10:15 AM

Mitchell Starc wants spicy Ashes wickets, not five-day Tests

Australia paceman Mitchell Starc has urged curators to prepare bowler-friendly pitches for the Ashes, warning against flattening surfaces to maximise five-day revenue as England's aggressive "Bazball" approach looms. Australia defeated India 3-1 in the last home summer on pitches that offered encouragement for batters and bowlers alike, and Starc said he hoped that would continue in the five-test series against England. "I hope the groundsmen stick to their guns and prepare the wickets they wa...

November 6, 2025 1:27 PM

Australia captain Pat Cummins targets return in second Ashes test

Australia captain Pat Cummins is back bowling multiple overs on a reduced run-up and has targeted returning to the team for the second Ashes test against England, a day-nighter in Brisbane starting on December 4. The fast bowler has been sidelined by a lower-back issue since July and has already been ruled out of the series opener in Perth, where he will be replaced as skipper by Steve Smith. Scott Boland is expected to step in for the 32-year-old in the pace attack in Perth but Cummins said h...

November 5, 2025 6:03 PM

Australia selector George Bailey defends age profile of Ashes squad after Waugh criticism

Australia's selectors chairman George Bailey defended sticking with the test side's veteran core for the Ashes on Wednesday following criticism from former captain Steve Waugh about the team's ageing profile. Waugh said on Tuesday that Bailey needed to make tough calls to regenerate the side and had failed to do so in the past, putting Australia's future at risk. "He's going to have to step up to the plate with the other selectors," Waugh had told reporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground. "The b...