Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has delivered his predictions on the upcoming Ashes series, offering his thoughts on the key players for Australia and England and his predicted series scoreline
The 35-year-old Mitchell Starc has not missed a Test since he broke his finger on Boxing Day in 2022. The left-arm pacer took his 400th Test wicket in Australia's last Test match in July.
Brendan Doggett has begun bowling at full intensity ahead of the first Ashes Test in Perth and is now a strong chance to make his debut. With Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins ruled out, and several other quicks unavailable, Doggett is in line for a debut.
In a massive setback for Australia, after injuries to skipper Pat Cummins and Sean Abbott, another mainstay of the Aussie pace attack, Hazlewood, has been ruled out of the first Test at Perth due to a hamstring injury which first surfaced during the Sheffield Shield return for New South W
Delhi Capitals (DC) today announced their list of retained and released players ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, set to take place later this year. The Delhi-based franchise has retained a total of 17 players
The horror show by Smith-led New South Wales was the major highlight, as despite the presence of Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood, NSW registered a poor outing, which slid them to third place in the table.
With the Ashes set to commence from November 21 at Perth, plenty of Australian stars have found rhythm and got game time heading into the all-important rivalry, a massive series in their chase for the ICC World Test Championship Mace.
Starc struck early, dismissing four of Victoria's top six batsmen, while his Australia teammate Nathan Lyon chipped in with 2-65, removing the other two top-order batsmen.
Australia captain Pat Cummins has said he is eager to play as much cricket as possible in the upcoming Test summer but admitted he may have to manage his workload carefully depending on the demands of each match.
"I'd like to see the selectors pick the sides, not the players. There's been a lot of players recently picking sides and saying who should be in the team. That's the selectors' job," he said.