Ben Stokes News

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Ben Stokes has said he is 'lucky' to be alive after a ball broke his cheekbone during a net session at Durham in February.

It was obvious to anyone who reported on that trip that English cricket's two central figures had begun to diverge for the first time since they joined forces to such remarkable effect in the early summer of 2022.

For the purpose of scaling one Briton against another, I'll keep this list to athletes in my lifetime and for the sake of neat edges will limit it to this century. A further weighting will be added to individual sports.

Outgrounds have a special place in the hearts of cricket lovers, the more so when not only abandoned by their county, but demolished and built over.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: Rew's name keeps cropping up in the England conversation - and no matter that he prefers the No 4 slot to the top three.

There are 18 first-class county headquarters in Britain, and our cricket correspondent LAWRENCE BOOTH has been to them all. Here he ranks them from worst to best.

In a winter of regret for the England Test team, one question went surprisingly unasked: how might they have fared on Australia's spicy pitches had Ollie Robinson not been persona non grata?

With England's first Test against New Zealand less than two months away, Daily Mail Sport looks at how the players vying for selection fared in the opening round of matches...

Unlike the Sheffield Shield or the Ranji Trophy, England's county system welcomes all and sundry from the four corners of the globe - at times to the chagrin of its own Test captain.

With Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith having endured a painful Ashes, the race is on for England selection ahead of the first Test series of the summer, against New Zealand in June.

RICHARD GIBSON: McKinney has been a beneficiary of Bazball's boldness to this point in his career, having been discussed for an international debut as far back as a year ago.

Ben Stokes has had his target of featuring in half of Durham's opening six County Championship fixtures eradicated by specialists while the club have 'no expectations' of fellow international Mark Wood playing for them this season.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY JAMES SHARPE: Chris Woakes, the county pro. Even for the man himself, it's a title he's still getting used to.

For a moment, the startled look on Darren Lehmann's face suggests he has just spotted an England selector lurking in the shadows at Wantage Road.

Steve Harmison, the pace ace who once coached his home town Ashington in the lower tiers of English football, reaches for a familiar frame of reference as he discusses Brendon McCullum.

English cricket's decision to stick with the status quo in the wake of the Ashes debacle had been long expected - but it is more of a gamble than the ECB hierarchy seem to think.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Tribe, 21, stood out during the Lions' tour Down Under over the winter, and is now expected to provide competition for both Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett this summer.

The anger of the jilted sportsman is a tale as old as the English batting collapse. And as Liam Livingstone's latest outburst confirms, anger isn't always accompanied by clarity.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: If Brendon McCullum may not enjoy spending the Test summer on probation, then he should console himself with the thought that he's lucky still to be in the role.

Earlier this week at the Twenty20 World Cup, Harry Brook sauntered into a press conference, clocked the facial expressions of those present and suggested a smile wouldn't go amiss.

Brook has spent several weeks vowing to take responsibility for his off-field actions that to within a whisker of being stripped of the white-ball captaincy. Now, here he was taking it on the field.

Despite Ben Stokes' plea to halt the Aussie influx to the County Championship ahead of next year's ashes, a number of players are closing in on deals with English sides for this season.

Ben Stokes left fans shocked and concerned as he shared a gruesome photo on social media.

Despite turning 39 in June, Moeen's arrival is a coup, not least because Yorkshire have lost experienced campaigners Dawid Malan and Jordan Thompson from their squad for next season.

SIR JAMES ANDERSON: The first thing I would insist upon is players going back into county cricket to prove they are good enough to face New Zealand at Lord's in June.

Let's face it, cricket and alcohol have history. In fact, they are intrinsically linked, dating back to Victorian times when village green contests were followed by post-match pints in the local.

There was a time, on a very flat track in Rawalpindi not so many winters back, when Harry Brook telegraphed the very distinct sense that he would become a tornado in Test cricket.

After Ben Stokes fumed at Snicko's lack of 'consistency' on Thursday evening, it appears another controversial umpiring decision has emerged.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN SYDNEY: This was not England's worst Ashes tour among their many failures in Australia down the years. But it was arguably their most disappointing.

He only scored six in his final innings and didn't get to hit the winning runs at his beloved SCG - but said he'll cherish the last day of the fifth Test forever.

Daily Mail Sport's LAWRENCE BOOTH was at all five Tests as England succumbed to another battering Down Under - here are his Ashes series player ratings.

Until the bitter end, we have been confronted with the cool indifference of Brendon McCullum, a man more absorbed with his own image than the catastrophe he has visited upon English cricket.

Tomorrow, thank God, the Ashes will come to an end, bringing the curtain down on a series of unforgivable crimes against cricket.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN SYDNEY: Cause for celebration, then, at the end of a long, humiliating tour, but also cause for regret. This ought to have been Bethell's 14th Test, not his sixth.

ASHES BREAKFAST: Jacob Bethell danced down the track to an off-break from Beau Webster and launched it over midwicket for the boundary to his parents' delight.

TNT Sports' Ashes coverage reached a new low after commentators mistakenly reacted live to a replay of a run-out during the fifth Test between Australia and England in Sydney.

As the ball hung in the air, you almost knew what was coming. Travis Head had been the key wicket all series, and England desperately needed to see the back of him. So Will Jacks dropped it.

Australian expert Sarah Rodrigues offers a guide exploring Australia's biggest city, with activities including kayaking across Sydney Harbour, climbing Harbour Bridge and some of the best spots to eat.

It takes a lot for a painting-by-numbers 46 to overshadow a masterpiece 160, but Jamie Smith gave it a go on a wildly oscillating second day at the SCG

A furious Ben Stokes erupted at Marnus Labuschagne and appeared to tell the Aussie batsman to 'shut the f*** up', as tempers flared on day two of the fifth Ashes Test. 

Ben Stokes has urged England not to 'coast' in Sunday's fifth and final Ashes Test at Sydneyas they try to limit the damage in a game that could have repercussions

As ECB bosses rake over these Ashes the make-up of the dressing-room will figure high on the agenda

Ahead of the final Test in Sydney and before a review of what went wrong takes shape, these are the players that can help win back the urn in 18 months' time.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN SYDNEY: McCullum, who became England's all-format coach a year ago, has an expensive ECB contract running until the end of 2027.

EXCLUSIVE BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: The ECB went into damage-limitation mode after a video emerged of Ben Duckett slurring his words in a late-night interaction with a fan.

This is my sixth Ashes tour, and the previous five had encouraged a hypothesis: even if Australians aren't always gracious winners, they can be magnanimous in defeat.

Ben Duckett dished up a cheeky response to jeers from fans inside the MCG during the Boxing Day Test.

Australian cricket is being accused of 'hypocrisy' in the wake of the Boxing Day Test pitch fiasco.

The end of the Boxing Day match at the MCG on Saturday was the first time the same series has had multiple two-day Tests in 129 years.

Nasser Hussain has claimed that Australian spin king Shane Warne would have described the MCG's pitch as 'unacceptable'.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN MELBOURNE: England arrived at the MCG with the mockery of a nation ringing in their ears, and left celebrating a first victory on Australian soil since January 2011.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: England have won their first Test match in Australia since January 2011, avoiding the prospect of a whitewash with a tense four-wicket win on the second day in Melbourne.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN MELBOURNE: England have pulled off their first victory in Australia in 19 attempts dating back to January 2011 after they knocked off a target of 175 inside 33 overs.

England's cricketers began their Christmas Day yesterday at the MCG practising for the penultimate match of an increasingly sobering tour of Australia.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Ben Duckett's first innings since his Noosa outing made the headlines was over in a flash as England struggled in reply to Australia's 152 all out on a dramatic opening day.

England's cricket stars appeared to be in good spirits as they were put through their paces on Christmas Day ahead of the Boxing Day Ashes Test.

DAILYMAIL+ BEST OF 2025: There are 18 first-class county headquarters in Britain, and Daily Mail Sport's Lawrence Booth has been to them all - many times over. Here, he ranks them.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN MELBOURNE: Ben Stokes has pleaded for 'empathy' after Ben Duckett was named in England's team for the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne.

When members of the legendary 2005 Ashes squad got together this summer to reminisce 20 years on, Collingwood was conspicuous by his absence.

COUNTY CRICKET TRANSFERS: Bashir, released by Somerset on November 1 and now snubbed by England Down Under, has agreed a move after months of seeking a new county home.

On a triumphant Ashes tour, a beery four-day break at a holiday resort becomes an example of camaraderie, another of the one-percenters (or four-and-a-halfs) that add up to sporting glory.

Comparing England's cricketers socialising between matches to a stag do is completely over the top and, as someone who has lost Test series in Australia myself, I have sympathy for them.

Yes, you read it right: in the immediate aftermath of losing the Ashes in 11 days, McCullum had the brass neck to say that he wants to still be England coach as 'it's a pretty good gig and good fun'.

As if the Three Lions' series defeat in Adelaide wasn't bad enough, yet another eye-opening claim about their preparation for the series has now surfaced.

Ben Stokes has opened up on the 'hurt' he and his team-mates are suffering after losing the Ashes emphatically to Australia inside 11 days.

Sixes Cricket, which operates 17 branches and is also supported by former England international Stuart Broad, has appointed administrators amid falling consumer spending.

Head has become a symbol of England's failure and Australia's spirit. He plunged England into misery in Perth and now he wants to finish the job before we even get to Melbourne and Sydney.

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN ADELAIDE: On the day England needed a miracle, they got the off-spin of Will Jacks and Joe Root. Australian minds will know that the tourists are not serious about winning.

Ashes RECAP: Re-live all of the action from day three of the third Test at Adelaide Oval with Daily Mail's live coverage with the urn on the line in South Australia.

Tempers flared between England skipper Ben Stokes and his star bowler Jofra Archer on Thursday morning.

None of England's previous Ashes tours began with the optimism surrounding this one. But after eight days' cricket, that optimism, and that Bazball template, has been destroyed.

After the England wicket-keeper, then on just 16, had initially been given out, the umpires sent the decision upstairs to check whether the ball had carried to Khawaja - which it did.

The Ashes are almost gone for another two years. Thursday in Adelaide felt like witnessing a lot more than the turning point in a match. It felt like watching the end of an idea.

Among the many brickbats hurled England's way has been the absence of an attack leader. But on the first day of the third Test, that role fell on the shoulders of Jofra Archer. And he responded in style.

It's embarrassing that a series of this magnitude, with careers on the line, should tolerate even the possibility of inaccuracy, when the UltraEdge used in England is far more precise.

Alex Carey has become a quite exceptional player. If it weren't for Mitchell Starc, he could be the player of the series. For all that, he discovered what it felt like to be a villain to the English again.

An emotional Alex Carey paid a heartfelt tribute to his late father as he secured his first-ever Ashes Test century. 

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN ADELAIDE: Steve Smith has been ruled out of the crucial third Test at Adelaide after feeling unwell during the build-up to the game.

England's disregard for the evidence of the past has empowered multiple record-breaking Test wins under Brendon McCullum. But now might just be the right time to look to the history books.