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BBC News
08-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Bowler Dudgeon to return to Kent for 2026 season
South African pace bowler Keith Dudgeon has signed for Kent for the entire 2026 29-year-old will be available across all formats for the County Championship Division Two joined Kent on a short-term deal at the start of this season but his spell at the club was cut short by a knee injury sustained in had made an impressive start to life at Kent, producing a career-best 7-36 on his debut against it would prove to be his only appearance for the club as he injured his knee in the warm-up before Kent's eight-wicket victory over Middlesex at the Spitfire Ground. Kent were top of Division Two after two games but have since fallen to the bottom with no wins from their subsequent seven matches."It's a huge case of unfinished business for me, and I'm sure it seems that way for the Kent fans - I'm so pleased to be a Kent player again for the whole of next season," Dudgeon said."Everyone at the club made me feel so welcome in my short time in Canterbury and I have been avidly watching the lads as much as I can from South Africa as I continue to work hard to get back to full fitness. I wish them all the very best for the rest of this year."
News.com.au
25-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Butter fingers! Windies drop FOUR
Cricket: Despite dismissing Australia for 180, the West Indies could have limited them even further after they dropped four chances.
Telegraph
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
First Test ratings: England's batsmen shine but India have a glaring weak link
England held their nerve on the final day of the first Test to claim a historic victory over India at Headingley. Here is Telegraph Sport 's analysis of who impressed most, and who went missing in the heat of battle. Give your opinion with our thumbs up/thumbs down voting tool. England India
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Fries with everything: fans swelter on Headingley's Test return as Jaiswal tucks in
After two years without a Test here, 23 in which India's red-ball side had visited only once, seven months since the last tickets for the first three days were snapped up and six in which the sum total of England's action in this format had been a low-key three-day win over Zimbabwe, it is fair to say that Leeds was ready for this. Or at least, in classic Yorkshire fashion, that it would be ready in its own sweet time. Play started with the stands barely half-full and television commentators feeling they had to remind viewers the day was actually a sellout. That much was swiftly evident, but as India's batters settled in for the long haul there was no need for anyone to hurry. As those words were spoken and just beyond the reach of the cameras, the concourses were packed with people still getting geared – or in many cases beered – up. Behind the Western Terrace a lengthy queue snaked towards the main bar with a second queue just beyond for the chance to join it (the hack for anyone stuck in this situation is to climb the stairs at the back of the adjacent Howard Stand and give one of the underemployed bar staff there something to do). After eventually being served fans edged their way nervously through the masses carrying their drinks on flimsy cardboard trays, rendered ever flimsier by the beer inevitably sloshing over them. There were surprisingly few India fans – rumours swirled that a rush of tickets had found their way on to the secondary market as soon as Virat Kohli retired – though the fact that in most of the ground the seats are much the same colour as their white-ball kit sometimes made it appear otherwise. Among their number was one who arrived just after play began, child in tow. Dad wore an India shirt, son full cricket whites accessorised with an England flag draped around his shoulders like a cape, with the crown of his head poking through a hole in a large sheet of cardboard to produce a makeshift sombrero. In most of this ground shade has to be self-created, and this promised to be a day that needed it. Though a pleasant breeze took the edge off it, at lunch the biggest queues were for the water refill stations, and by tea the bars were virtually deserted but heaven help anyone who wanted an ice cream. A previously rather flat atmosphere perked up soon afterwards, potentially assisted by copious quantities of soft serve. Flake? Not us, pal. Unfortunately the possibility of genuinely hot weather did not seem to have occurred to whoever planned the catering operation, leaving fans with an entirely unseasonal choice between such offerings as burgers, southern fried chicken and loaded fries. Pity the man staffing the wood-fired pizza oven, which was positioned next to the fish and chips truck – by the end of the lunch break its peas were not the only things that were mushy. The fans nevertheless attacked the offering just as Yashasvi Jaiswal tucked into England's bowling: with relish (ketchup, in most cases). In all this the only sign of fresh fruit and vegetables was the group of fans in the Western Terrace who came dressed as two bananas, three strawberries, an orange and an avocado. There is something particularly appealing about a stadium that is part of another different stadium, with the structure known to cricket fans as the Howard Stand Siamese-twinned with the rugby league ground's North Stand, but there is no clever design that can disguise the lack of space behind some areas of the ground when there is no play on. Into the lunchtime throng behind the East Stand, a mixture of food stall queues and people endeavouring to walk around the ground in both directions, was thrown a group of bhangra drummers, four men making the noise of 10, who attracted a sizeable crowd while they added bonus percussion to an unlikely mashup of Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl and Shaggy's take on In the Summertime. They set up opposite the Gray-Nicolls stall, thereby ensuring the area had both bats and a racket, and there was not a bar in the ground with as many bottlenecks. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Probably the most surprising lunchtimely hold-up though was on the otherwise deserted stairs outside the players' changing rooms, where for a while India's Kuldeep Yadav somehow found himself stuck without the pass necessary to convince the security staff stationed there that he should be allowed in, or a phone to summon anyone to vouch for him. Eventually the guard allowed him through – in his own sweet time.
The National
17-06-2025
- Sport
- The National
England v India: New challenges and opportunities in post Kohli-Rohit era
A five-match Test series between England and India begins in Leeds on Friday. It will be the first assignment of a new Test cycle, with India making a fresh start having failed to make it to the World Test Championship final. Shubman Gill has been named the Test captain following the sudden retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. We take a look at what all is at stake for the Indian team. No Virat Kohli, no buzz? Late last year, reports emerged of tickets for the opening Test of the five-match series being sold out. It did not take a genius to figure out the reason behind it – Virat Kohli and possibly his final red-ball tour of England. At that point, India were poised to make it to the WTC final and possibly give a grand farewell to one of the greatest cricketers produced by the country. But in the intervening months, India's cricket world turned upside down. A disastrous Test tour of Australia pushed India out of the race for the WTC final and hastened the retirement of spin great Ravichandran Ashwin. And, shockingly, also of Kohli and Rohit from the Test format. The absence of Kohli in particular is being felt, as there is a palpable lack of buzz. India's cricket fans had grown so accustomed to having superstars around the team; the sudden departure of Kohli and Rohit has taken a lot of stardust off the red-ball side. Had either one of them been in England, it would have been a different story. But the fact is that new Test captain Gill does not have enough of a fanbase in India, so don't expect those in England to fervently rally around the side under him. Gill thrown into the deep end By all counts, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was going to become the next Test captain, as he is easily the most valuable red-ball player in the country. But given his poor recent fitness record, the selectors looked beyond him. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was the next logical option, as he is a guaranteed starter in the format and accustomed to leadership role. If not him, then possibly KL Rahul. But the Indian management went in a different direction and picked Gill, a player who is not a proven match winner, nor is he the best batter in the side, or even the undisputed leader. The selectors have gone really long-term here, as there are very few pressing reasons to make him the Test captain right now. Still, he has a more than capable squad, and England are not exactly world beaters, yet. So if Gill leads India to a respectable result, it would be a tremendous achievement and earn him the respect of the dressing room and doubters. Who after Bumrah? The next big question facing Indian cricket is – who after Bumrah? Not only in the bowling line-up but also in the coming years. Mohammad Siraj was the natural successor up until recently, but a lukewarm tour of Australia saw him slide a few steps down the pecking order of Indian fast bowling. Mohammad Shami should have been the leader of the pack, but injuries seem to have set him back for good. Left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh offers great variety and has emerged as the most potent alternative for English conditions. Right-arm quick Prasidh Krishna has made giant strides since his comeback from injury, turning up the heat in the IPL and offering a serious hit-the-deck option. Right-arm pacer Akashdeep is another quality replacement for Shami, and should receive additional workload in the Test series as Bumrah is expected to feature in no more than three Tests due to workload management. One fast bowler will need to step up to the challenge as it is going to be a long series, with the assumption that Bumrah's Test career is now nearing its end. Persistence pays off for Nair Batting is where India will have to focus a lot of their energies, as they have lost two stalwarts together. Captain Gill needs to prove himself as a leader and also top-order batter against a good attack in seaming conditions. The bulk of the responsibility, however, will fall on the shoulders of Rahul, who showed excellent technique and composure on really difficult wickets during the Test series defeat in Australia. Vice-captain Pant will bat the only way he knows – attack – and it has frankly worked out for him. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is, in fact, the most bankable batter in the team across conditions. But the middle order is a bit too fluid, which is why the selection of Karun Nair, who was famously dropped soon after scoring a triple century against England in 2016, is interesting. Nair has piled on the runs in domestic cricket across formats and divisions - he averaged more than 56 in the County Championship for Northants the previous season – forcing his way into the side as other younger players like Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel have not quite set the stage alight. At 33 and with more than 100 first-class games under his belt, Nair can be backed to do the heavy lifting and also tackle tricky conditions; something the other, more flamboyant, batters in the team might not have the ability to do.
