England opt for Ollie Pope at No 3 over Jacob Bethell for first India Test
Ollie Pope has retained his England place and will face India in the first Test starting on Friday, the 171 he scored against Zimbabwe last month having proved enough to hold off the emerging challenge of Jacob Bethell.Bethell’s success in Pope’s No 3 slot during the three-match series in New Zealand over the winter, when he scored a half-century in each Test and averaged 52, appeared to have made the position his to lose.However, the 21-year-old missed the first Test of the summer because of his Indian Premier League commitments, allowing Pope – who had dropped to No 6 in New Zealand while temporarily taking on wicketkeeping duties – to return to his favoured position and enjoy the benefits of incumbency.Before the Zimbabwe game, Ben Stokes hinted that Bethell would come straight back into the side once he was available, but the England captain later insisted his comments had been deliberately misinterpreted.“It is unfortunate that you say something and it can get twisted to suit an agenda,” he said.
Though Pope’s performance at Trent Bridge is likely anyway to have secured his place at least for the start of this series, that Stokes felt the need to reassure in private him that he remained an integral member of the team would also have made it harder to then drop him.“It was all good,” Pope said of that conversation.“It’s all noise to us.”As expected England have chosen a seam attack with hugely different levels of international red-ball experience in Brydon Carse (who has five Test caps), Josh Tongue (who has three) and Chris Woakes, who has 57, with Stokes contributing in short bursts.England team (First Test v India, Headingley)Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
On Wednesday Carse admitted there was “no hiding away” from the callowness of the bowling group.“Over a number of years England have had Stuart Broad and James Anderson as the two main bowlers, so it is more inexperienced,” he said.“But a lot of the guys that have come in and played Test cricket over the last couple of years have started off well and that will give them a level of confidence.And someone like Chris Woakes, who has played a lot of Test cricket in different conditions against different teams, he’s someone who brings a level of calmness to a group of bowlers.”The absence of Broad and Anderson has also been the subject of discussion in the India camp.
“It feels so good when both of them are not there,” said their vice-captain, Rishabh Pant.“They’ve been there for England for so many years, but at the same time they have enough ammunition as a bowling lineup.We’ve got to play our cricket and respect the bowlers and the opposition.”Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotionAfter the recent retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma this is a new-look India side, now captained by Shubman Gill.“Obviously it’s a new start for us.
Definitely big people have left,Yes, there will be a gap,” Pant said,“But at the same time it’s an opportunity for us to build a new culture, or take the culture forward,Sharing knowledge with each other, having that care and love in the dressing room for each other, that’s something we’re looking forward to,The idea is very simple: look to play positive, brave cricket.
You’ve got to keep finding ways to make your team win.”While all three of Tongue’s previous Test appearances have come at home this will be Carse’s first in England after a string of impressive performances over the winter was temporarily halted by an infected toe – an injury that prompted him to briefly consider amputation – that kept him out of the Zimbabwe game.“Over the years I’ve watched a number of great games of Test cricket in England, and to be part of this group for the past eight or nine months has been really exciting,” he said.“A couple of the guys have said this series is something else, that playing Test cricket in England is a different feeling.To be part of this is something I’m very excited about.
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Lakers to be sold to Dodgers owner at $10bn valuation, per reports
The Buss family is entering an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a $10bn valuation, ESPN reported on Wednesday, marking the end of an era for one of the NBA’s most influential families.Mark Walter, the CEO and chair of holding company TWG Global, is set to take the majority ownership under the agreement, ESPN’s NBA insider Shams Charania said in a post on X. Walter was already a minority owner in the Lakers and is also primary owner and chair of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.The Lakers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The late Jerry Buss bought the Lakers in 1979 and turned it into one of the most popular and valuable franchises in all of professional sports, winning five championships during their now-iconic “Showtime” era in the 1980s
Marcus Smith at full-back against Argentina as Lions aim to ‘set tone’ for tour
Maro Itoje will captain the British & Irish Lions for the first time against Argentina in Dublin on Friday after the head coach, Andy Farrell, included him and eight other Englishmen in the starting XV for the warm-up match for the upcoming tour of Australia.England’s other starters include Marcus Smith at full‑back along with Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith at half‑backs. Ireland’s Tadhg Furlong will be given the chance to prove his fitness after struggling with a calf injury that ruled him out of Leinster’s United Rugby Championship final win against the Bulls last weekend. Furlong is included on a bench that also features the hooker Ronan Kelleher, the only player to be involved against Argentina six days after taking part in the end-of-season finale.Farrell’s injury list looks like being clear by next week – it will most likely be clouded somewhat by the final whistle against the Pumas – but for now it is a good place to be
Jack Draper shakes off errors to thwart Popyrin and keep Queen’s Club quest alive
In the final throes of a tense, uneasy tussle with one of the bigger servers in his sport, Jack Draper was fading. The British No 1, and second seed, had started poorly: he had struggled to find his range on his groundstrokes for much of the occasion and then two match points passed him by. Deep in the third-set tie break, he trailed 2-4.Over the past year, though, a period during which he has established himself as one of the best players in the world, Draper has continually shown his ability to find a path to victory no matter what. In the first week of his grass-court homecoming, the 23-year-old offered a forceful demonstration of his supreme competitive spirit as he recovered to defeat Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, the world No 21, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to reach the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club
Ombudsman rules for red-hot Gosden team as Royal Ascot roasts in the sun
The only British stable to wrest Royal Ascot’s top trainer award away from Aidan O’Brien over the course of the past decade continued its strong run through this year’s meeting on Wednesday, as John and Thady Gosden’s Ombudsman, in the Group One Prince of Wales’s Stakes, followed up the success of Crimson Advocate, in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, for a 59‑1 double on the day.The feature race, though, was not an easy watch for Ombudsman’s joint trainers or his backers at 7-1, at least until William Buick, his rider, finally managed to extract him and find running room with around a furlong to go, after being caught in a series of pockets. Buick was forced to switch twice in the straight, but when he did eventually take aim at the lead, Ombudsman’s response was immediate and overpowering.Ombudsman was around two lengths behind Anmaat, the Champion Stakes winner last season over the same course and distance, passing the furlong pole, alongside 100m later and then two lengths ahead and going further clear at the line.“The plan was to just relax off the pace, which was strong and set up for [O’Brien’s] Los Angeles,” John Gosden said, “but to that extent we knew we’d be comfortable where we were
Royal Ascot 2025 day two: Ombudsman rules in Prince of Wales’s Stakes – as it happened
Day two done and the sun is shining stronger than ever. It seems a long time ago now but Aidan O’Brien started the day with a very impressive winner in True Love. The O’Brien-trained favourite Los Angeles failed to fire in the big race, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and glory went to John Gosden and Ombudsman. Those hoping for a royal winner were again denied when, after yesterday’s debacle with Reaching High the favourite Rainbows Edge blew out in the 5.35pm race
Four leading British basketball clubs could be blocked from Europe as civil war deepens
The civil war engulfing British Basketball has intensified with the British Basketball Federation attempting to block four of the country’s leading clubs from competing in Europe next season.The Guardian has learned that the BBF is refusing to endorse applications for European places made by Manchester Basketball, London Lions, Newcastle Eagles and Bristol Flyers, which has put their participation at risk.In another development, it is being claimed that the BBF is threatening to thwart visa applications for overseas players for next season made by a number of Super League Basketball clubs.The BBF and clubs are at loggerheads after the governing body last month awarded a 15-year licence to operate a new Great Britain Basketball League from the 2026-27 season to an American consortium led by the former NBA executive Marshall Glickman. The nine existing SLB clubs are refusing to join, and have had their interim licence to run their own league next season suspended by the BBF
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