Joe Root splutters but Ollie Pope prospers in England’s Ashes warm-up
Joe Root’s attempt to lay to rest the ghost of Australian failures past started with the addition of a fresh one, as his fourth Ashes tour started in brief and inglorious style.The world’s No 1 Test batter, the subject of much pre-series chatter because of his poor average on previous such trips, was the most notable failure as many of his teammates inflated their confidence along with their scores across another day of breezy cricket and indeed weather against the Lions at Lilac Hill, which the senior side ended, having been bowled out moments before the close, with 426, a lead of 51.Zak Crawley described it as “a flat wicket for sure” and with the atmosphere provided by the few dozen spectators similar, but with intense heat expected from the stands and pitch when the real action starts next Friday, it is not clear to what extent anyone is markedly more prepared now than they were a couple of days ago.“Cricket’s cricket, it’s time in the middle,” Crawley said.“We’re doing everything we can with what we’ve got and we feel like we’re going to be ready.
As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s good that we’re getting used to the weather, getting used to the [intensely irritating] flies so yeah, it’s good prep, I think.”On the eve of this game Ben Stokes reasoned that success for Root in the Ashes was inevitable given “he’s the greatest English batter that the nation has seen” and “has been in phenomenal form over the last two, three years”.Neither phrase has frequently been applied to Ollie Pope but it was England’s No 3 who looked most assured and got most reward, scoring a century before immediately, perhaps even suspiciously, allowing a Shoaib Bashir delivery to hit his stumps.He thereby won the top three’s private game of one-upmanship, with Crawley dismissed in the 80s and Ben Duckett in the 90s before Pope made it to triple figures.Ben Stokes, having starred with the ball on Thursday, made 77 before top-edging a Will Jacks delivery, which arced neatly to Bashir.
Root faced a dozen balls and scored just a single run, miscuing a pull to midwicket off Matt Potts as England, having swaggered through the opening session, lost three wickets for three runs soon after the restart, stumbling from 182 without loss to 185 for three.Harry Brook followed soon after having doubled Root’s score, a dismissal of garish hideousness as he hared forward on the attack but made contact only with air, allowing Nathan Gilchrist’s delivery to clatter into the stumps.At this point England were 198 for four, but Pope and Stokes steered them away from the humiliation of being outscored by their understudies.But for the moment, an hour from the close, when Bashir pulled up with a cry while fielding, fell to the ground, stayed there for perhaps a minute and then simply got up again and carried on, there were at least no injury scares this time.Brydon Carse had recovered from the stomach upset that ruled him out of the opening day, and though he refrained from bowling as a precautionary measure he did make a brief appearance with the bat, replacing Mark Wood in England’s lineup against the team he was initially named in.
He lasted only three deliveries,Wood watched much of the action, left leg heavily strapped from just below the knee, while he awaited a scan on a hamstring which was scheduled for the late afternoon,The resulting images will be checked by a specialist in the UK before a decision is made about his future,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 promotionFully nine players bowled for the Lions, four of them members of the Ashes squad,After five overs Potts had conceded 40 runs and was enduring something of a nightmare, though his primary problem was not poor quality but bad luck as Duckett in particular scored a succession of boundaries with the edge of his bat – including one, when he was on six, that might have been caught by Ben McKinney in the slips (44 of Duckett’s first 50 runs came in boundaries).
Thereafter Potts went at just 2.36 per over and ended the day as the outstanding bowler even if his haul of two wickets was matched by Gilchrist and bettered by Jacob Bethell, who took three in just 4.3 overs as the batters grew carefree towards the close.
Trump’s targeting of alleged drug vessels strains UK-US intelligence ties
It is an intelligence relationship that predates even the Five Eyes: the UKUSA alliance that began, naturally enough, in secret in 1946. But this week the strain of trying to be the closest security ally to a freewheeling White House has begun to show.Britain, it emerged, had quietly suspended intelligence cooperation with the US in the Caribbean because London does not consider the deadly US military campaign against ships accused of drug trafficking to be in line with international law.That amounts to an extraordinary open fissure in a close working relationship at a time when the US is increasing its military buildup, expanding its controversial campaign in the region with an attempt to threaten Venezuela.“I’m not sure if there is a previous example of this happening in the public domain
Britons living abroad: tell us your views on UK politics today
The last decade in British politics has been marked by instability and fragmentation, with six prime ministers in ten years, and Nigel Farage’s Reform party now leading in the polls.A study this month from King’s College London and Ipsos found that 84 percent of people now say the UK feels divided, up from 74 percent in 2020.Polling on voter intention shows a fracturing of the political landscape as people abandon two-party politics – with Reform now averaging 31 percent, Labour 18 percent, the Conservatives 16 percent, Green Party 14 percent and Liberal Democrats 12 percent.We want to hear from Brits living abroad. How do you think UK politics has changed since you left the country? Does anything surprise you about events in the UK? How does living abroad shape your views on UK politics? Do you have concerns?You can tell us about viewing UK politics from abroad herePlease include as much detail as possible
Your Party receives ‘small portion’ of withheld supporters’ donations
The leftwing Your Party, set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, is embroiled in another public row over donations to the party.A statement from Corbyn along with Shockat Adam MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Ayoub Khan MP and Iqbal Mohamed MP states that hundreds of thousands of pounds were donated to the party “by supporters in good faith, but have since remained beyond its reach”, which they describe as being “extremely frustrating and disheartening”.It added a “small portion” of the funds was transferred to the party on Thursday which they said was “insufficient” and they will continue to pursue the immediate transfer of all the money donated.The statement posted on X by the independent alliance of MPs was not signed by Sultana and comes days after the Guardian reported on the former Labour MP and Corbyn’s quarrel over hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations.Sultana offered to transfer £600,000 from a company the party’s founders set up earlier this year, only to be rebuffed by allies of the former Labour leader who accused her of playing “political games” with supporters’ money
Starmer stands by McSweeney and says he has been ‘assured no briefings against ministers done from No 10’ – as it happened
Keir Starmer has said he “of course” retains full confidence in his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, PA Media reports.I will post the full quote shortly.At PMQs yesterday Starmer dodged a question about whether he had full confidence in McSweeney, although No 10 subsequently said he did.Some ministers and MPs want to see McSweeney sacked.We’re closing this blog now, here’s a summary of the day’s main developments:The prime minister has attempted to draw a line under the briefing row, saying he has “been assured that no briefing against ministers was done from No 10” and that he has “full confidence” in his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeneyWes Streeting, the health secretary, has said that he doesn’t know and doesn’t care whether Starmer is trying to identify the No 10 figure briefing against him
Starmer defies calls to sack chief of staff, claiming briefing didn’t come from No 10
Keir Starmer has attempted to draw a line under extraordinary briefings by his allies that No 10 feared Wes Streeting could launch a leadership coup, insisting he had been reassured it “didn’t come from Downing Street”.The prime minister gathered his senior staff to stress that briefings against cabinet ministers were “unacceptable” after apologising to Streeting for what had happened on Wednesday.However, his spokesperson said Starmer also accepted assurances that No 10 staff had not briefed against Streeting and that he stood by his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.Since the furore over No 10’s fears about a leadership challenge from Streeting, first revealed by the Guardian on Tuesday, there had been calls from Labour MPs for McSweeney’s resignation.One senior Labour source described McSweeney as “the great survivor” after the Downing Street gathering
Labour must accept that the two-party age is over and embrace PR | Letters
Andy Beckett suggests the case for proportional representation may become irresistible (Britain’s two-party politics is fragmenting: what unintended consequences await?, 6 November). The strength of the case is not in doubt; the issue is lack of political will to legislate. Perhaps there is more will now than ever, with results from the 2024 general election and wide-ranging Electoral Calculus forecasts pushing parties currently against proportional representation to reconsider.Labour’s position is clearly crucial. Based on the forecasts, PR offers Labour a hedge against a doomsday scenario of losing up to 90% of its seats
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