Ashes 2nd Test preview: Brisbane’s Gabba brings us the pink ball, under lights, on the fastest pitch in the world. Will England’s batters be ready? How about Australia’s?

6 minute readIf the Gabba is a fortress then it’s one where trebuchets and battering rams have taken out a fair few chunks of wall. In their last five Tests there, Australia have won two, lost two and drawn one. Needless to say, one of those wins was against England. The Gabba

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Ashes 1st Test preview: How fast is the pitch at Perth’s Optus Stadium? Who should be afraid? How ridiculous are England? Can Australia possibly counter them?

6 minute readSomewhat unusually, this first Test of the 2025/26 Ashes is in Perth. There’ll therefore be much talk about Australia surrendering the supposed advantage of kicking things off at the ‘Gabbatoir’ in Brisbane. Australia have certainly won a lot of first Ashes Tests at the Gabba, but our personal feeling is

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Jasprit Bumrah v four spinners, Bangladesh v Ireland, papal seal, Ashes filtration | Mop-up of the day

2 minute readThere’s a lot of focus on Test cricket that’s going to happen, but elsewhere in the world Test cricket is actually already underway (or has recently finished). India v South Africa Over in Kolkata, a pretty big match: the reigning world Test champions versus the sport’s biggest nation at one

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