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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey has said that the franchise will “certainly not panic and throw everything out” despite having a poor IPL 2025, where they were the first team to be knocked out of contention for the playoffs.A number of things have gone wrong for CSK this season and they continue to remain at the bottom of the points table. They lost their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad to injury five games into the tournament, the top order and the middle order has not fired, while their bowling, barring Noor Ahmad, has blown hot and cold. Even CSK’s fielding has been below average. They have dropped the second-most catches among all teams this season, drawing criticism from Dhoni after CSK’s previous game against Punjab Kings (PBKS).”We’re certainly not going to panic and throw everything out just because it hasn’t gone well this year, but we definitely need to tidy up on a few areas. We’ve made too many mistakes with bat and ball, and in the field for that matter,” Hussey said ahead of CSK’s game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Bengaluru. “I know we’re sort of sitting at the bottom of the table and we haven’t won many games, but I actually don’t think we’re too far away.”We have got some match-winning players in that line-up for a number of reasons and it hasn’t quite gone the way we would have liked it, but I still think we’re close and we can definitely compete with any team in the competition.”It’s fine margins in this competition because you’ve got the best players from all around the world and little things that go with you or against you can be the difference between having success and not.”Related

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Among a lot of things that haven’t gone CSK’s way, the way fortress Chepauk has been breached is hurting them the most, according to Hussey. They have lost five home games in an IPL season for the first time, which has contributed to their early exit for the race to the playoffs.”It’s surprising, isn’t it, to lose so many games at home,” Hussey said. “I think other teams are getting better at playing at Chepauk as well. They’ve been going into this tournament a long time, so they’ll pick up things along the way. I think the dew has played a bit of a factor as well. It’s made it a little bit easier batting second, and we’ve unfortunately been on the wrong side of the toss a few times, so that probably hasn’t helped, and it’s a tight competition.”But I don’t think it necessarily comes down to just at Chepauk. I think it’s just the way we play in general. So it doesn’t matter if we’re playing at Chepauk or away. I still think the results probably would have gone that way.”Yeah, it’s something that’s hurt us because we love playing in front of our home fans, and they turn up in great numbers and support us every time, and we love to have big wins in front of them. It has been disappointing, certainly, to lose games at home.”CSK have four more games left in the tournament, three away in Bengaluru, Kolkata and Ahmedabad and one at home against Rajasthan Royals (RR). With the playoffs qualification out of their hands, what do CSK want to achieve in the remaining matches?”A few more wins would be nice by the end of the season, definitely,” Hussey said. “And I guess a lot more clarity on the players that we’ve got. We’re getting information every game, which will help the management and coaching staff and the captain to make more informed decisions moving forward.”It’s a great opportunity for some players to get a chance to play in the IPL. Hopefully, they can grab their chances and shore up their spot in the squad for the next few years. A few wins and a few players really taking their opportunity, that would be fantastic by the end of the season.”

Amid growing speculation over whether India will play in this year’s Asia Cup, in the wake of tensions with Pakistan, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has downplayed reports that India were pulling out, insisting that the issue was yet to be “discussed”.India are due to host the six-team event in the T20 format but the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which runs the Asia Cup, has not yet announced the schedule or the venue. September has unofficially been pencilled in as the window.”The Asia Cup matter or any other ACC event issue has not come up for discussion at any level,” Saikia said in a statement on Monday. “… till now, BCCI has not even discussed or taken any such steps regarding ensuing ACC events, leave alone writing anything to the ACC. At this stage, our prime focus is on the ongoing IPL and subsequent England series, both men and women.”Related

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Saikia said the BCCI had not communicated any decision to the ACC concerning India’s participation in the Asia Cup as well as the Women’s Emerging Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in June.However, ESPNcricinfo has learned the women’s Emerging Asia Cup has been postponed though the reason could not be confirmed. The ACC has not yet made any formal announcement on the postponement.Speculation about India’s participation and the fate of this year’s event has arisen as tensions between India and Pakistan soared this month after the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The two countries engaged militarily briefly, temporarily halting both the IPL and PSL. Both leagues resumed on May 17 after the countries agreed to a ceasefire on May 10, though bilateral relations remain fraught.India head coach Gautam Gambhir recently said there should be “absolutely no” cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. Speaking in his personal capacity, Gambhir said: “Till all this [terrorism] doesn’t stop, there should not be anything between India and Pakistan.”The BCCI has normally sought permission from the Indian government to play Pakistan in multinational events. In 2023, when Pakistan were the host of the Asia Cup, a precursor to the ODI World Cup, the BCCI said it did not have the Indian government’s permission to travel to Pakistan. Consequently, PCB adopted a hybrid model to conduct the tournament in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with the latter hosting all of India’s matches including the final. Earlier this year, India did not travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy for similar reasons, and played all their matches including the final in Dubai.India-Pakistan contests are among the most-watched cricket matches and play a significant role in the valuation of broadcast rights both for the ICC (at World Cups) and ACC (Asia Cup). Several editions of the Asia Cup have been hit by strained political ties between the countries, leading to withdrawals and the entire tournament being shelved in the past.

Orange Cap table

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Virat Kohli leads the list with 505 runs from 11 innings, and Gujarat Titans’ (GT) B Sai Sudharsan is second, just one run behind from one fewer innings. Mumbai Indians’ (MI) Suryakumar Yadav is at No. 3 with 475 runs.Just two runs behind Suryakumar Yadav is Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. He has 473 runs from 12 innings. GT’s Jos Buttler (470) and Shubman Gill (465) are fifth and sixth on this table, respectively.

Purple Cap table

GT’s Prasidh Krishna continues to lead the table with 19 wickets from ten games, while RCB’s Josh Hazlewood is second with 18 wickets, also from ten outings.Arshdeep Singh is third on the list after his three-for against Lucknow Super Giants in Dharamsala. He has 16 wickets in 11 matches. There are two other players on 16 wickets along with Arshdeep – Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) Noor Ahmad and MI’s Trent Boult. But Arshdeep remains above them because of his superior economy rate.You can also take a look at what the ESPNcricinfo MVP table looks like at this stage.Here are some other IPL 2025 tables.

• Highest batting strike rates
• Best bowling economy rates
• Most sixes
• Best bowling figures in a match

Stumps Australia’s quicks followed what Kagiso Rabada started as the defending champions hit back strongly on the opening day of the World Test Championship final. The contest had been billed as a battle between two attacks and 14 wickets fell on the first day at Lord’s to suggest the destination of the mace could be decided sooner rather than later.Rabada’s 5 for 51, the second time he has got his name on the Lord’s honours board, kept Australia to 212, before Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood struck back in the final session to leave South Africa tottering on 43 for 4 and looking towards their captain, Temba Bavuma, for inspiration.Related

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Australia’s reshaped top three had fallen before lunch after Bavuma was pleased to bowl first under overcast skies. But at 146 for 4, with Steven Smith set despite the flu, and 192 for 5 with Beau Webster having cashed in on a reprieve on 4 when South Africa didn’t review an lbw, they had an opportunity to recalibrate, only to lose their last five wickets for 20. Aiden Markram removing Smith was up there with one of the more unexpected wicket-taking combinations on offer in this match. “I’m still trying to fathom how I’ve done that,” he later said.Australia needed a response and Starc provided it in the first over (again) when Markram dragged on an inswinger. Starc should quickly have had a second, but Alex Carey dropped a regulation outside edge off Wiaan Mulder, although he didn’t have to wait too long when Ryan Rickelton nicked a drive to first slip.Mulder, batting at No. 3 for just the third time in Tests, laboured to 6 off 44 balls before being beaten on the drive by Cummins. South Africa could barely score: between them, Mulder and Bavuma made 8 off 81 deliveries. In the closing moments of a day that was never short on action, Hazlewood, back in the side after an injury, produced a gem of a delivery that nipped back through Tristan Stubbs. Concerns about South Africa’s batting order were ringing true, not that Australia’s had looked convincing.The day ended in bright sunshine but had started under a heavy cloud cover with the floodlights on. After three consecutive maidens to start the Test – the first time by Australia since 2020 – the opening runs off the bat came from the 21st delivery.1:11

Steyn: When Rabada smells a bit of blood, he goes for it

Marnus Labuschagne, starting his life as a Test opener, produced what early scoring there was, but Khawaja couldn’t open his account before edging the 20th ball he faced. Rabada came around the wicket, forced Khawaja to play, and David Bedingham did well to hold on at first slip with Markram nearly distracting him from second. It continued a familiar mode of dismissal for Khawaja, who, since the start of 2024, has averaged 18.63 against quicks from around the wicket compared to 43.80 from over.Cameron Green’s first delivery as a Test No. 3 was a gift on the pads, but his third took the edge and was brilliantly held by Markram who, this time, had to contend with Mulder diving across in front of him at third. It meant that Smith walked out, on what he termed his second-favourite ground in the world, with Australia 16 for 2.Labuschagne nearly fell in the next over, flicking Marco Jansen just short of leg gully, a mode of dismissal he has been vulnerable to before, but he and Smith started to rebuild the innings before Labuschagne edged Jansen from around the wicket the ball after being struck by a short delivery.2:13

Smith: We’re in a pretty good position

Two years ago, against India at The Oval, Smith and Travis Head came together at 76 for 3; this time it was 47 for 3. And there was no match-changing partnership. Instead, Head fell to what became the final ball before lunch when he glanced Jansen down the leg side.On resumption, there was a change in tempo, and a feeling Australia were taking the initiative. Smith took 11 off Rabada’s first over of the afternoon and, shortly after reaching fifty, became the leading overseas batter at Lord’s, surpassing Warren Bardsley. He is also the first visiting batter to face three different Test opposition at the ground: Pakistan (on debut), England ,and now South Africa.It looked like Smith was writing another significant Lord’s story, batting with more ease than anyone else had managed, while Lungi Ngidi was struggling to support the good work of Rabada and Jansen. But out of nowhere Smith drove at Markram’s offspin – only introduced to allow a change of ends – and edged to slip where Jansen made good use of his long reach to hold the catch after two juggles.2:41

Day 1 review – what did Rabada do right?

Webster, meanwhile, had been anything but secure on his first appearance at the ground. He narrowly survived an early lbw appeal against Jansen when he was fractionally outside the line, and then had a huge dose of fortune when, on 8, Bavuma opted not to review an lbw shout off Rabada; Bavuma indicated he thought there was an edge, but it was two pads and hitting halfway up middle.Webster continued to live a charmed life with his inside edge getting a regular working over but he kept his composure and was quick to latch on to any poor deliveries. As if trying to make up for the earlier mistake, South Africa reviewed for another lbw against him only for it to have come off the middle of the bat.Webster brought up the second fifty of his brief career from 69 balls as, either side of tea, he and Carey started to forge what felt like a threatening stand. But South Africa were gift-wrapped another wicket for spin when Carey attempted a reverse-sweep and played over the top of Keshav Maharaj’s delivery.From there, the tail folded and the last five fell in 35 balls. Cummins was cleaned up by a beauty which straightened down the line from Rabada while Webster’s innings ended when he pushed off the back foot and edged to slip. Sadly for South Africa, the wickets didn’t stop coming.

Yorkshire ensured they would at least not finish bottom of the North Group table as they ended a disappointing season with a two-wicket away victory over Leicestershire Foxes in the Vitality Blast after a dramatic finish at the Uptonsteel County Ground.Needing 13 off the last over, they looked to have missed out when a brilliant piece of combination fielding saw Jordan Thompson out with three balls left and 11 still needed, only for Matt Milnes to hit Josh Hull for back-to-back sixes off the last two deliveries to clinch the points.Leicestershire, who began the night still with an outside chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, contingent first on them winning, posted 185 but after Ben Cox (43 from 27 balls) and Rehan Ahmed (43 from 29) provided the platform for a 200-plus total they lost their last six wickets for 24 and were bowled out in 18.5 overs.Although Milnes was the star at the death, Pakistan international Abdullah Shafique (64 off 38 balls) and Matthew Revis (52 off 32) had made it possible with a county record fifth-wicket stand of 122 as Yorkshire recovered from 23 for four.Milnes had earlier taken 3 for 37 with his seamers, with Will Sutherland (3 for 20) also impressive with the ball. Logan Van Beek took 3 for 35 and Ian Holland 2 for 19 for Leicestershire.Defeats in three of their previous four matches had left Leicestershire needing to win their final match and hope results elsewhere went in their favour if they were to finish in the top four. But victories for Bears and Durham both recorded victories to make this result academic.Leicestershire started well after Yorkshire had opted to bowl first, although 62 on the board in the powerplay cost them three wickets, Sol Budinger, Rishi Patel and Shan Masood out after making starts, two of the wickets to Dan Moriarty’s left-arm spin.Rehan and Cox added 81 in 46 balls to give the Foxes a platform for a big score, Rehan hammering Moriarty and then Jordan Thompson over the long-on boundary before skewing to deep cover, Louis Kimber maintaining the momentum by going 4-6-4-6 against Jafer Chohan’s wrist spin.But after Cox was leg before to Sutherland at 161 for five in the 16th, the innings rather fell apart, Milnes taking three wickets in an over to dismiss Logan Van Beek, Ian Holland and Tom Scriven. Kimber (27 off 12) miscued Thompson, leaving the departing Yorkshire all-rounder on 99 Blast wickets for the county.Sutherland picked up his third, bowling Josh Hull, and though 185 looked a competitive score, having failed to use seven of the 120 balls, the Foxes had clearly left runs on the field.Those runs were effectively clawed back as a near-exemplary powerplay with the ball from the Foxes left Yorkshire reeling at 23 for 4, despite James Wharton lifting Hull over the legside boundary in the second over.Holland and Van Beek took two wickets each, Will Luxton and Harry Duke hitting straight to fielders in the circle, Wharton and Dawid Malan finding men in the deep, Rehan taking three of the catches.Yet Shafique and Revis piled on the runs through the middle phase of their innings to get Yorkshire back in the game, Shafique hitting four sixes and Revis three.The partnership looked to be over when Shafique was caught behind square off Van Beek, but the ball had deflected off his helmet. In the event, Rehan bowled him with the first ball of the next over.Revis completed his half-century with his third six but fell in the next over, somehow skewing a ball from Hull to short fine-leg, leaving 35 needed from 17 balls. Thompson and Sutherland cleared the ropes in an expensive 19th over for the Foxes as Van Beek conceded 17, including two wides.Nonetheless, it looked like the home side had enough until Milnes proved them wrong by hammering Hull over wide midwicket for one six, before an audacious scoop for six more off the last ball sealed the result.

Kate Cross has revealed that she is “struggling to get [her] head around” her “savage” omission from England’s squad for the 50-over World Cup in India.Cross, 33, has been a regular in England’s ODI side since the last World Cup and took her 100th career wicket in the format earlier this summer. But she was dropped during their series against India last month and was left out of the squad altogether on Thursday as a result of England’s decision to pick an extra spinner for subcontinent conditions.”It’s hard to take, because I don’t feel like I’ve done enough to deserve not being on that plane,” Cross said on , her podcast with Alex Hartley. “Everyone that is a current player who doesn’t get selected is going to disagree with selections and going to think that they should be there.Related

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“But what I’m really struggling to get my head around is it all feels like it’s happened so quickly that I’ve just clearly fallen out of favour with Lot [England coach Charlotte Edwards]. That’s a hard bit to get my head [around]. If I’d had 14-18 months of being pretty average at cricket and not performing in an England shirt, then I think I’d understand it a bit more.”I guess to an extent I have, because I didn’t have the best summer in an England shirt and I had a really tough winter and missed out a lot through the back injury. But I think leading into that, I definitely didn’t feel like I wouldn’t be on the plane. Being in the best XI [is] a different conversation, but [not even] being on the plane… It feels savage.”Cross was first left out by Edwards for a rain-reduced game against India at Lord’s – she is not involved in England’s T20I set-up – and did not regain her place for the series finale in Durham. “There’s so much for me to get my head around, and I haven’t processed it,” she said. “It’s still really raw.”England have only picked three frontline seamers for the World Cup in Em Arlott, Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer, with captain Nat Sciver-Brunt on track to recover from injury in time to offer another option.”It’s what you sign up for,” Cross said. “You don’t get to have those amazing highs without having these real lows, but it doesn’t make the lows any easier knowing that they’re going to be there. I probably had a good indication that I wasn’t going to be in this, or it would be tough to come back from being dropped in that last game… But it doesn’t make it any easier.”

Two wins from South Africa’s last eight ODIs against England does not make for pretty reading but allrounder Chloe Tryon isn’t bothered by that record.Ahead of her team’s Women’s World Cup opener in Guwahati on Friday, Tryon said those results don’t reflect the reality of a South African side that has reached two T20 World Cup finals since they last met England in the 50-over version, including a memorable semi-final victory at Newlands in 2023.”The team has changed a lot over the last couple of years,” Tryon told the media on Wednesday. “We’ve got some young players coming in and we’ve got a lot of experienced players, and everyone’s just taken up their role really beautifully. And the way that we’ve worked behind the scenes has been really good, so I’m not looking at too much of the stats.”South Africa’s World Cup squad is missing three of the players that lost 2-1 to England in their home ODI series last year. But they have five changes in personnel from the squad that beat England in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup before losing to them in the semi-final.Since then, South Africa have a new captain, a new wicket-keeper, a new pace spearhead, a new coach and most importantly, a new frame of reference, thanks to their progress in the shorter format. They’ve also got far more experience of their opposition than was the case three years ago. Tryon is one of three South Africans in this squad – Laura Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp are the others – who are fresh off the Women’s Hundred.Though Tryon herself didn’t have a good tournament, making just 31 runs in nine matches, she benefitted from first-hand experience of her English opponents which she hopes she can use to South Africa’s advantage.”It’s a really good tournament to be part of and I obviously got to play with a couple of the England girls, which was pretty exciting,” she said. “Just watching them, how they go about their skill and how they go about their business is really good, so hopefully I can give a lot of insight to the team.”Tryon and Wolvaardt’s team-mates at Southern Brave included Lauren Bell and Danni Wyatt-Hodge, two of the “matchwinners” of which Tryon is wary, in an England side laden with superstars.”As a unit they’re just really that strong,” she said. “They’re led by one of the best all-rounders in the world (Nat Sciver-Brunt), and everyone just feeds off her. Every single one of them are matchwinners. We have to make sure that we show up with a lot of presence and we give 200%. We’ve shown that we can beat them in the past and we have, so we need to be really positive going into the first game.”Related

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South Africa have turned their 50-over fortunes around since losing eight out of 10 ODIs between June 2024 and May 2025, and have won four of their last six games. Admittedly, these came against West Indies (who are not at this tournament) and Pakistan (who had to qualify) so they need to be understood in context, but they also hinted at a succcessful adjustment to a new style under coach Mandla Mashimbyi.Mashimbyi has been in charge for nine months now, in which time the team has bought into his aggressive style of cricket. They have bulked up their middle order with Anneke Bosch, Annerie Dercksen, Sune Luus, Tryon, Nadine de Klerk and the option of Karabo Meso from No.3 to 7 or 8. “We bat really deep which is really important in a 50-over tournament like this,” Tryon said. “As a batting unit, we’ve come a lot of strides over the last couple of months, you can see that there’s a big difference in our batting and our approach in our batting department.”On flat pitches, this is expected to be a World Cup of high scores. However, South Africa’s early observations from the India-Sri Lanka match were that “it takes a little bit of turn,” as Tryon put it.Her allround abilities could be crucial to South Africa’s fortunes, but so too her experience. Tryon and Luus are both playing at their fourth World Cup, while Kapp is entering her fifth. Each has the knowledge that this could be their last, and they want to make a statement.”As a senior group we just want to lead the way for the team,” Tryon said. “We’ve got some girls that haven’t played a 50-over World Cup before, so for us, it’s making sure that we’re taking a lot of the responsibility in the middle and creating really good environments within the squad. It’s been really good so far. The way that everyone has gelled together has been so good. We’re really excited for the first game and we want to lead the way as a senior group by just making sure that we keep everyone as a tight unit.”

England have touched upon some strong form heading into their World Cup campaign, now head coach Charlotte Edwards wants to see them translate it onto the big stage.Edwards took over ahead of the English summer, which consisted of 14 games – six of them ODIs – in a dominant performance against West Indies before twin white-ball series defeats at the hands of India.But a training camp in Abu Dhabi combined with four wins from as many warm-up games – against New Zealand, India and Australia – has Edwards’ team right where she wants them heading into their World Cup opener against South Africa on Friday.”The players are really responding well, certainly to a slight change of style,” Edwards said on Wednesday. “Hopefully we’ve seen the results over the last four games, which have been really positive. We’re not getting carried away, don’t worry, but we know that we’re on the right track and we’re tracking really well moving into the first game.”England followed two tight wins against New Zealand by beating co-hosts India by 153 runs and Australia, the defending champions, by four wickets.Among the most notable performances for England were Heather Knight scoring runs in her first match since tearing her hamstring in May. Knight made 41 off 48 in the first warm-up with New Zealand and Edwards described her as “vital to our success out here”.Middle-order batters Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey and Emma Lamb all made runs, Lamb particularly impressive with three half-centuries in four outings.England head coach Charlotte Edwards and Alice Capsey spare time during training•ECB via Getty Images

Nat Sciver-Brunt, who took over the captaincy from Knight this year following the Ashes defeat that also cost then-head coach Jon Lewis his job, proved she would be key for England by retiring out on 120 as her side amassed 340 for 9 in their win against India.Legspinner Sarah Glenn shone with 5 for 32 from seven overs to help reduce Australia to 247 all out from 34.4 overs. Prior to that, she had played just twice for England during their home summer, in one ODI and one T20I against West Indies before being overlooked for India’s tour.”There’s never a friendly against an international opposition, so I think we’ve taken a lot of confidence, not necessarily around the result, but the way we’ve played,” Edwards said. “I feel we’re really nicely placed.”England’s struggles in the field and their ability to cope under pressure had been talking points since their group-stage exit at last year’s T20 World Cup and the Ashes, where they lost all seven matches contested in the multi-format series. But Edwards insisted there were no lingering scars from those experiences.”You’ll be pleased to hear we’ve been fielding really well, that’s something that we obviously wanted to work on,” she said. “So I’m really pleased with how the four games have gone and we’ve been put in some pretty tough situations at times as well. Under pressure, the players have responded really well.Related

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“I’ve not spoken about anything about the past,” she added. “It’s all about looking forward with this group now. We’ve created an environment where it’s about taking accountability now and we’ve got real clarity on how we want to play the game.”Hopefully that clarity is going to help this team under pressure, because I don’t think we’ll leave a stone unturned in terms of our prep. The signs have been really strong so far in terms of the development I’ve seen in the last six months. I’m just hoping we can take that now onto the big stage.”Edwards has vast World Cup experience in India, having made her first and last appearances at the tournament there, in 1997 and 2013. More recently in Indian conditions, she has coached WPL side Mumbai Indians to two titles in three years of the competition.And while Sciver-Brunt has been her standout self with the bat, it is her ability to bowl that remains under the spotlight. Because of a long-standing Achilles injury, Sciver-Brunt has bowled just 9.3 overs since the WPL final in mid-March, in which she took 3 for 30 in an eight-run victory over Delhi Capitals.She took 2 for 23 in 5.3 overs during the second warm-up with New Zealand on September 20 and conceded 22 off four wicketless overs against India five days later.The luxury of a four-pronged spin attack reduces England’s reliance on the seam bowling of Sciver-Brunt, whom Edwards expected to be able to bowl a full match allocation of ten overs if required.”We are very lucky, we’ve got four of the best [spinners] in world cricket in my opinion,” Edwards said. “We knew that they were going to play a big part when we selected this squad. That comes from my experience of coaching out here, that spin’s played a massive factor even in T20 cricket and WPL cricket.”Nat’s ready to go. She’s bowling. She hasn’t bowled in every warm-up game, but she’s doing lots of training overs as well. She’s in a really good place physically, so we are hoping to get ten overs out of Nat.”We’re going to have to really monitor her workloads throughout this tournament clearly, like any of the fast bowlers, depending on how hot it gets,” Edwards added. “Nat loves bowling and I think it helps her batting. She’s been probably one of the most successful bowlers in the WPL over the last few years. So we’re hoping to continue that form into ODI cricket.”

It is infuriating talking to an England player at the moment. The biggest series in years is on the horizon. It’s all we’ve been speaking about for months. And rather than indulge in playground gossip like the rest of us, they’re rising above it.”We’re in New Zealand,” says Harry Brook, speaking from New Zealand. So far, so good. “I’m the white-ball captain.” Also correct. “We’ve got a game tomorrow night.” Three from three. “And that’s all I’m thinking about.” Wrong. Tell us that Josh Hazlewood is going to get sent to the moon.This is a refined Harry Brook. Wiser than the man who was once burnt after saying he was glad he could “shut up” Indian fans in 2023, then twice burnt by England fans in 2024 after saying “who cares” if someone gets caught on the boundary. Now, in 2025, he is a man who leads his country on and off the pitch. When England were given a traditional cultural welcome on Friday at the Hagley Oval, it was Brook, in his role as captain, whose responsibility it was to stand and say a few words of thanks to the local Maori leaders at the end of the ceremony. A simple, but important task that earned him a tap on the thigh from head coach Brendon McCullum.Related

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“Like I said. We’re in New Zealand now,” Brook reiterates.Through nothing other than coincidence, Brook’s development as a cricketer has been inextricably linked to the country. His Test captain, Ben Stokes, has his roots in New Zealand. The only Test head coach he’s ever known, McCullum, is one of the most famous New Zealanders of all time. His centuries in Wellington, Christchurch and Wellington again include arguably his finest knock in an England shirt. And his first tour as an England captain is to the country as well. Most recently, Gilbert Enoka, the famous mental skills coach who worked extensively with the All Blacks, has become a figure Brook turns to for advice.”He’s awesome,” Brook said of Enoka’s presence with the England team. “We’ve actually just done a session with him now for an hour or so. To have him in the ranks, just to be able to pull him for a chat for five or 10 minutes is awesome.”Unprompted, Brook, who was recently named as vice-captain of the Test side, spoke about his need to adapt both as a captain and a batter. A question about Jacob Bethell’s ability against spin segued into an answer about Brook’s recognition about the need to be flexible with a batting line-up.”I haven’t liked doing that in the past,” Brook says of switching left-and-right-handers in the order depending on what the opposition is throwing up. In his eyes, that amounts to a bending of the knee to an opponent who should be dictated to, not delegated around.”But whatever’s best for the team at that stage is vital. And like I said before, having them little chats with Gilbert with everybody heading in the same direction, knowing that things might change here and there is vital for the side.”Similarly with his batting, his quickly trademarked but almost impossible to describe roly-poly Dilscoop ramp, that he unfurled in the Hundred, sounds set for a spell on the sidelines. As a shot it is a moment of pure entertainment. But rather than being the sign of a man with unlimited confidence and limitless form, Brook saw it as a sign he was straying too far into the woods.”It’s fun when the crowd’s cheering and whatnot,” Brook told talkSPORT. “But it doesn’t necessarily work every time.”I’ve actually been quite disappointed with the way I’ve played in white-ball cricket. I feel like I’ve been premeditating a lot. And that’s one goal for me this series, just to try and play on instinct as much as possible.”Brook’s aim to move away from premeditation stems from a desire, to use a football term, to play the way he’s facing. The fact he is able to play 360 degrees, he feels, is pulling him in too many directions. Literally.”Because I’m hitting it in different areas,” Brook explained of why he wanted to scale back. “Obviously it all depends on the situation of the game and the surface, but when I’m at my best I’m hitting it straight.”Brook got engaged recently. It can be the only explanation for such clarity of thought. A man can only plan so much. And a wedding outranks deciding when to scoop Jacob Duffy.When Brook entered the international set-up in 2022, Stokes made a joke at his expense, calling him “a bit dumb”. Joe Root joined the party a couple of years later when referring (endearingly, it must be said) to Brook as an “idiot”.But the fact of the matter is that Brook is very likely to walk out at some stage across the Ashes series with the England blazer on and as captain of his country. Stokes has missed a match through injury in each of his last four Test series. And the Brook that does so, thanks to those around him, will be very different to the one who debuted just over three years ago.”I want Stokesy to play all five games,” Brook said, knocking back any suggestion he’s thought at all about the prospect of walking out on Boxing Day to call heads in front of 95,000 people. “But now we’re in New Zealand. I’m the white-ball captain, and that’s my main focus. That’s all I’m thinking about at this moment in time. We’ve got a game tomorrow night. And like I’ve said so many times, [I want to] just stay in the moment as much as possible.”Brook is only interested in speaking about New Zealand. And really, given his history here, why would he want to talk about anything else?