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New York Times
2 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
England captain Ben Stokes out of fifth India Test: What his absence means, expected injury timeframe
England must attempt to clinch a series victory against India without their captain after Ben Stokes was ruled out of the final Test with a serious shoulder injury. Stokes, 34, will miss Thursday's fifth and final game at the Oval after the shoulder problem he suffered while bowling in the fourth Test at Old Trafford was diagnosed as a grade three tear that will keep him out for between six and 10 weeks. Advertisement The England captain remains confident he will be fit to lead his side in Australia this winter, where the first Ashes Test begins in Perth on November 21 but for now, his side must tackle India without the man who has been at his all-round best throughout the series. 'We took as long as we could to take the decision,' said Stokes at the Oval on the eve of the final Test of a series led 2-1 by England. 'There was a bit of emotion that comes into this kind of stuff when you find out what you've done. 'I came here this morning seeing if I could play as a specialist batter but it's about weighing up the risk-reward and the risk was too high for damaging this any further. I wouldn't expect to put any of my players at risk with an injury like this. 'I'll start rehabbing now and focus on what we've got coming up this winter. It helps that we've got a really good squad and we will put a team out there we think can win this Test.' That England team is much changed at the end of a gruelling series which has seen each of the four Tests go to the final session of the final day and has left both sides injury-hit and exhausted. Jofra Archer misses out after playing two Tests in a row following an absence of four and a half years from first-class cricket, while Brydon Carse is also rested after playing in all four Tests. There is also no place for left-arm spinner Liam Dawson, who took just one wicket on his return to the side at Old Trafford after an eight-year absence and misses out now because England want four seamers in Stokes' absence on a green-looking Oval pitch. Gus Atkinson finally returns after injuring his hamstring in the first Test of the summer against Zimbabwe, while Josh Tongue is back for the first time since the second Test at Edgbaston and Jamie Overton comes in for only his second Test. Only Chris Woakes remains from England's fourth Test attack. Advertisement There is also a Test debut for talented batter Jacob Bethell, who will bat at six in Stokes' place and also can provide left-arm spin to augment a new-look seam attack. Stokes will remain with the side to support his deputy Ollie Pope, who takes charge of the side. It is a desperate blow for England to be without Stokes at the Oval because he has been at the absolute peak of his form both with the ball, where he has become the leading wicket-taker in the series, and also now with the bat after scoring a hundred at Old Trafford. The England captain is simply irreplaceable but he is absolutely right to miss out now and rest a body that has endured surgery on both his knee and hamstring in recent years because England's chances in the Ashes this winter are so dependent on him. There are still 14 weeks to go before the first Test against Australia in Perth so Stokes, who expects six or seven weeks of rehab, really should be fine for that but his fitness will once again dominate the build-up to the biggest series of them all. For now, a patched-up England will take on a bristling India side with a new-look attack and a debutant batter in Bethell, who has yet to make a century in professional cricket. Only Woakes remains as England believe he will be their best chance of gaining swing and seam movement with the new ball on a green-looking Oval pitch, which has seen the last 20 captains winning the toss in first-class cricket decide to bowl first. The look of a surface prepared by groundsman Lee Fortis, who clashed with India coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday partly over the amount of grass on it, has convinced England to go in without a specialist spinner, as Surrey have done this season here. But Dawson may well have bowled himself out of his unexpected chance to go to Australia for the Ashes with his performance at Old Trafford, which saw him go wicketless in 47 second-innings overs on a last-day pitch. Injured off-spinner Shoaib Bashir had his best week as an England player without even playing.
Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Cardinals take on the Marlins in series rubber match
Miami Marlins (51-55, third in the NL East) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (55-54, fourth in the NL Central) St. Louis; Wednesday, 7:45 p.m. EDT PITCHING PROBABLES: Marlins: Cal Quantrill (3-8, 5.05 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 74 strikeouts); Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (6-7, 4.94 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 70 strikeouts) BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cardinals -148, Marlins +123; over/under is 8 1/2 runs BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins play on Wednesday with the winner claiming the three-game series. St. Louis has a 32-23 record in home games and a 55-54 record overall. The Cardinals have the sixth-ranked team batting average in the NL at .250. Miami has a 51-55 record overall and a 27-26 record in road games. The Marlins have the fourth-ranked team batting average in the NL at .252. Wednesday's game is the third time these teams match up this season. TOP PERFORMERS: Alec Burleson has a .286 batting average to lead the Cardinals, and has 19 doubles and 14 home runs. Masyn Winn is 12 for 37 with seven RBIs over the last 10 games. Xavier Edwards has 16 doubles, three triples and a home run for the Marlins. Kyle Stowers is 13 for 34 with five doubles and four home runs over the past 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 4-6, .237 batting average, 4.34 ERA, outscored by 11 runs Marlins: 6-4, .241 batting average, 2.55 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs INJURIES: Cardinals: John King: day-to-day (oblique), Nolan Gorman: 10-Day IL (back), Lars Nootbaar: 10-Day IL (ribs), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat) Marlins: Derek Hill: 10-Day IL (finger), Jesus Tinoco: 60-Day IL (forearm), Connor Norby: 10-Day IL (wrist), Max Meyer: 60-Day IL (hip), Ryan Weathers: 60-Day IL (lat), Griffin Conine: 60-Day IL (arm), Andrew Nardi: 60-Day IL (back), Braxton Garrett: 60-Day IL (elbow) ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Our experts pick their England teams for India series decider
England travel to the Oval with the series still on the line after a draw at Old Trafford. Our cricket experts pick the XI they would like to see take on India in the fifth Test. Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Overton, Atkinson, Archer, Tongue. It is harsh to leave out Liam Dawson but pitches at the Oval suit seam and we do not know how many overs Ben Stokes is going to be capable of bowling at full pelt. Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue give England fresh legs and allow them to use Jofra Archer in very short bursts. Overton's batting – he scored 97 in his only Test so far – replaces Dawson's and India looked very comfortable playing the left-arm spinner. Atkinson and Tongue in Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Dawson, Woakes, Atkinson, Tongue. A 15-man squad indicates that England are not exactly sure what they want – or, more pertinently, who will be fit. Archer and Brydon Carse both look in need of a break; England omitting Sam Cook from the squad suggests that they believe Chris Woakes will be OK. Woakes also has a fine record at the Oval and gives England a batting line-up of rare depth, with Test centurion Gus Atkinson at No 10. For now, broader debates about the future of the side – most notably whether Jamie Smith should play as a specialist batsman – can wait. All-seam attack Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Woakes, Atkinson, Carse, Tongue. It has got to be a three-day green-top, which Surrey have been known to engineer, for some good old-fashioned, ugly, seam-based dogfighting. Stokes, whether he can bowl or not, and four seamers, no spinner (and if you are going to pick a spinner, pick Jack Leach, not Dawson, because he can bat). India do not have the reserve seamers to compete in this sort of game: their main reserve, Prasidh Krishna, bowls too short of a length for this sort of contest. Who England's four seamers are depends on their fitness, if any after four hard-slog Tests, but assuming Archer cannot play for medical reasons, and it is a seam-fest (although Surrey will want five days of receipts) my bowling attack would retain Carse and Woakes. Will Macpherson: Stick with Dawson Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Dawson, Atkinson, Archer, Tongue. In the last 18 first-class games at the Oval, the team who won the toss has bowled first. The pattern is nibble early on, then good for batting on day two and three. Surrey seldom pick a spinner, so I was tempted to leave out Dawson, not least because the seamers are either undercooked or completely knackered. But I'm giving him one more game, partly because they will need him to hold up an end. It is too early to know for sure which of the seamers will be fit, but I am definitely bringing in the fresher legs of Atkinson and Tongue. Then it is the question of which of the three survives. Carse has run his race, and I thought Archer actually looked the freshest of the three. If he is good to go, he plays. If not, Woakes stays, not Overton, because I don't want an all-changed attack.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Australia end West Indies tour unbeaten after completing T20 series clean sweep
Australia completed a flawless tour of the Caribbean with a three-wicket victory over West Indies in the fifth T20 to seal a series sweep in St Kitts. For the fifth time in as many matches, Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first, then restricted the West Indies to 170 and their lowest total in the series. The white-ball sweep comes after Australia also won all three Tests on the tour though they were given a scare as West Indies found their way through the deep middle-order that has largely proven the difference across the five T20s. Cameron Green, Tim David and Mitch Owen contributed valuable runs in the chase but it was left to Aaron Hardie (28 not out) to guide Australia to 173-7 with 18 balls remaining. Green (32 off 18) continued to build on his rich vein of form with a fourth significant innings before attempting to hit spinner Akeal Hosein over the rope but picking out Matthew Forde at long-off. The young allrounder juggled the catch to give the home side a sniff before Hardie and Ben Dwarshuis (9) took control. Sean Abbott later helped complete the rout. David returned to the side and picked up where he left off after hammering a record-breaking 102 not out in the third match of the series. The powerful middle-order hitter blasted four sixes as he raced to 30 from 11 balls before finding Shimron Hetmyer on the leg side boundary off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph. Owen quickly took the mantle from David as he put together a third eye-catching knock in his debut series to press his claims for a longer-term place in the side. The 23-year-old compiled a controlled 37 while taking few risks before reaching for a wide delivery from Hosein and edging to Joseph at short third man. Mitch Marsh earlier called correctly as Australia won an eighth of eight tosses across two formats on the tour and again elected for the tourists to chase. A string of wickets early and late in the West Indies' innings meant the hosts were unable to post a big score on the small ground at Warner Park, Basseterre, before they were all out for 170 in the last over. Hetmyer (52 off 31) helped lift West Indies to a more competitive total before falling to a low running catch by Abbott at long-off. Sherfane Rutherford (35 off 17) also showed signs of good touch and smashed Abbott for a huge six before being bowled by Glenn Maxwell as he attempted to cut. Left-arm quick Ben Dwarshuis (3-41) returned to the side and bowled Shai Hope after being struck for successive boundaries, then had Brandon King (11) caught at mid-on. Adam Zampa (1-20 off three) celebrated his 100th T20I by bowling Joseph in the 19th over, as the West Indies again failed to make the most of the closing overs and lost their last four wickets for 15 runs. 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 The victory sealed Australia's first 5-0 sweep in a T20I series, while the West Indies had never before gone winless across five matches in the format. Australia will seek to build on their imperious form in the Caribbean with six white-ball matches against South Africa on home turf next month.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cubs-Brewers series preview: MLB's most exciting series thus far
The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers begin a three-game series on Monday, with both teams tied for first place in the National League Central. At 62-43, the Cubs and Brewers are tied for the best record in the NL. The series opener has the potential to be an instant classic; Chicago's Matthew Boyd takes on Milwaukee's rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski. Both Boyd and Misiorowski were selected to their first All-Star Game this season. Boyd, 34, is 11-3 with a 2.20 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP in 20 starts this season. Misiorowski, 23, is 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP in six starts this season. The rookie sensation has dominated teams so far and will face the Cubs for the first time in his young career. Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp The second game of the series features an interesting matchup between Chicago's Colin Rea and Milwaukee's Quinn Priester. Rea, 35, has had an up and down season but has looked solid in four of his last five starts. Priester, 24, is getting his first real shot as a starter in Major League Baseball. Priester has had an excellent season for Milwaukee and his 101.2 innings pitched is the most in his career by double. The series finale is a showdown between Chicago's Shota Imanaga and Milwaukee's Freddy Peralta. Imanaga, 31, has had a good season with the Cubs after being an All-Star his rookie year. He was touched up by the Chicago White Sox in his last start and hasn't pitched well against the Brewers in two career starts. Peralta, 29, has been nothing but consistent with Milwaukee and has great numbers against the Cubs. Their offenses are completely different. The Cubs rely on hitting home runs, while the Brewers focus on small ball. Five everyday Cubs have an OPS north of .800, while the Brewers have zero. Both teams like to run the bases, so this series should feature a lot of stolen base attempts. This series will be fun, with first place and bragging rights hanging in the balance.
