The Sporting Hack

  “Not mature enough” or “too reckless” or “talented, but…” were all ways in which people could have described Ben Stokes’ ascension to England test skipper four years ago. There were some valid points. As a player he had the golden arm and showed incredible heart which supporters of all teams came to love and respect. As a person, he had some growing up to do off the pitch after well publicised alcohol-fuelled incidents. And now, parallels must be drawn with Harry Brook and how the vice-captain of this currently skipper-less side has been written off as the heir to Stokes’ title before he’s even been given the job. Off the pitch, he had an altercation with a New Zealand doorman in October 2025 in echoes of Stokes’ notorious Bristol transgression in 2017 when the Durham all-rounder was of a similar age. And on the pitch, well, where to start? The Yorkshire batter has a superb test average of more than 53 runs per innings and can do things with the willow in his hands which mere ...

  With less than three weeks until the eagerly anticipated 2025/26 Ashes series commences, there is an air of confidence growing within Australia that the hosts will triumph against England over the festive period and retain the urn. The comments of ex-Pommie pace man Stuart Broad - that this Australian crop are the worst in more than a decade - have been amplified the most.  While those sentiments were not fully endorsed Down Under, there has been an awareness that there are fragilities in the hosts ranks. Chief among those concerns are that skipper Pat Cummins is absent from the series opener in Perth, at the very least, and that the top order lacks clarity. Perhaps this is what the retired Broad focussed on as he suggested Australia might be about to lose for just the second time in eleven home series. However, stand-in skipper Steve Smith (118) looked in good touch for New South Wales against Queensland recently, and Marnus Labuschagne seems assured of a berth somewhere i...