England at risk of 2027 World Cup embarrassment and in need of ODI upswing
Harry Brook has admitted that he is flummoxed by England’s inability to get consistent results in recent one-day internationals, saying that some of the supposedly stellar talents in his squad – which includes up to seven batters he insists “would get into any team in the world” – “just haven’t performed well enough”,“It is disappointing, isn’t it?” England’s white-ball captain said, as he looked ahead to the third and inal fixture in an already-lost series against New Zealand,“You go round every single player there and you think: ‘Bloody hell, there isn’t many teams that they don’t get into in the world,’ It’s disappointing we haven’t performed as well as we could,Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hand up and say they’ve been the better team.
”The problem is that England keep coming across better teams, and in the past two years they have lost bilateral ODI series to West Indies, Australia, West Indies again, India, South Africa and now New Zealand, while winning only on the one occasion they got to play West Indies at home.“We’ve got five, six, maybe seven batters who would get into almost every team in the world,” Brook said.“They just haven’t performed well enough.It’s disappointing.It’s disappointing for the fans, who want to watch us because they know that we play such an exciting brand of ricket.
It was only a couple of games ago against South Africa when we got 400, so we’re not a million miles away,It’s just about a couple of scores here and there and then we nail it down, and hopefully we do find that template we can keep going forward with,”England’s batters have underperformed so badly in this series that Jamie Overton, the No 8, outscored all of them but Brook in the first game and all of them including Brook in the second, without himself reaching 50,The team’s struggles in the format are such that they have dipped to eighth in the world rankings, with West Indies and Bangladesh close behind,If they are still likely to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, continued poor results could insert an embarrassing kink into the process.
Places will be given to the top eight teams in the rankings on 31 March 2027, excluding co-hosts South Africa, currently sixth, and Zimbabwe, who are 11th.The next two teams on the list will be forced to battle through a 10-team qualifying tournament to claim a spot.England’s fixtures over the next 13 months are unlikely to offer many easy ranking points.Before February 2027 they will play three-game series against India and Sri Lanka at home, and away in Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan – the latter as part of a tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka (again).Including Saturday’s final fixture against New Zealand they have 20 ODIs scheduled before the qualifying deadline, of which 14 are away and all are against sides currently ranked in the top six.
Meanwhile both Bangladesh and West Indies, ninth and 10th in the rankings, play the majority of their games at home, with the former having multiple opportunities to boost their points total in series against theoretically lesser opponents, with five games against Zimbabwe and six against Ireland.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 promotionNew Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Zakary Foulkes, Blair Tickner, Jacob Duffy.England: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer.Though Saturday’s game in Wellington is a dead rubber, with New Zealand 2-0 up in the series after a pair of one-sided victories, beating the side currently sitting second in the rankings would provide handy points, which under the ICC’s formula would be boosted because of the Black Caps’ high rating.Though the match will be played at Sky Stadium, curiously England’s only training session in the capital will be held across town at Basin Reserve.
Also curious was their route from Hamilton, where the second game in the series was played on Wednesday, to Wellington: though there were six direct flights between the cities on Thursday, the most obvious route and the one the home side took, England instead drove for two hours in the wrong direction before taking a longer flight from Auckland.The trip took them about five and a half hours, while their opponents were checking in to their new hotel after only three.
Thunder guard Nikola Topic, 20, undergoing treatment for testicular cancer
Oklahoma City Thunder say their 2024 first-round draft pick, Nikola Topic, is undergoing chemotherapy to treat testicular cancer.Thunder’s general manager, Sam Presti, said on Thursday that doctors are “extremely positive” about Topic’s outlook.“Our only expectations for him are to focus on this,” Presti said. “This is his most important priority. He’ll be back playing basketball when he’s able to, but we’re not putting any time length or expectations on that obviously
Breeders’ Cup 2025: all-conquering O’Brien arrives with sights on new record
Aidan O’Brien’s gallop towards an extension of his record for Group One wins in a season has slowed a little in recent weeks, but there was still a shield-beating sense of theatre about the scene as his team for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar this weekend made its way to the track for morning exercise on Wednesday.Unlike 2024, when City Of Troy was being aimed at the Classic, there is no obvious headliner in the O’Brien lineup, but plenty of the horses trotting past in a well-ordered single file have banked at least one Group One already this season and four are expected to set off as favourite.Minnie Hauk, the Arc runner-up and a three-time Group One winner over the summer, heads the market for the Turf on Saturday, while Gstaad (Juvenile Turf), Precise (Juvenile Fillies’ Turf) and True Love (Juvenile Turf Sprint) are also all likely favourites for the three turf events on Friday’s card for juveniles. Other runners from the yard at single-figure odds include The Lion In Winter (Mile) and Havana Anna (Juvenile Turf Sprint), and the Ballydoyle squadron is, as so often, at the heart of the European challenge at the meeting.O’Brien needs a single success this weekend to take sole control of the record for Breeders’ Cup with 21, one more than the late D Wayne Lukas, who died in June
England’s Ashes debacle and review was meant to change everything. Did it? | Raf Nicholson
England have been knocked out of a World Cup after losing a match they were expected to win, thanks to a one-off innings which nobody saw coming. Sound familiar? That’s because it describes two events involving England which took place almost exactly a year apart: on Wednesday, their 50-over semi-final exit at the hands of South Africa; a year ago, their loss in a must-win group stage match against West Indies in the 20-over version.In the interim, a 16-0 Ashes debacle and a post-series review which was meant to change everything. Did it? Time to delve a little more deeply into those two World Cup exits. In 2024, England fell to pieces, dropped five catches, and allowed a bish-bash-bosh innings from Qiana Joseph to win the day
England at risk of 2027 World Cup embarrassment and in need of ODI upswing
Harry Brook has admitted that he is flummoxed by England’s inability to get consistent results in recent one-day internationals, saying that some of the supposedly stellar talents in his squad – which includes up to seven batters he insists “would get into any team in the world” – “just haven’t performed well enough”.“It is disappointing, isn’t it?” England’s white-ball captain said, as he looked ahead to the third and inal fixture in an already-lost series against New Zealand. “You go round every single player there and you think: ‘Bloody hell, there isn’t many teams that they don’t get into in the world.’ It’s disappointing we haven’t performed as well as we could. Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hand up and say they’ve been the better team
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‘Bats out for Benny’: teenager killed by cricket ball honoured amid debate over neck guards
Australia’s cricket community have begun to put their bats out in a gesture to remember teenage cricketer Ben Austin after he was killed by a ball hitting his neck in a practice session, in an incident in Melbourne on Tuesday described as similar to the death of former Test player Phillip Hughes in 2014.The 17-year-old was wearing a helmet but not a neck guard, and while the incident is likely to trigger calls to make such protection mandatory at the community level – as it already is among elite players – cricket officials said the priority must be around supporting Austin’s family and the boy who threw the ball with a training tool known as a sidearm or “wanger”.Austin’s cricket club, Ferntree Gully, posted on Facebook on Thursday calling on people to “put your bats out for Benny”, replicating the gesture that followed Hughes’ death. Dozens of other posts under the hashtag #batsoutforben have followed, highlighting the impact the incident has had on Australia’s cricket community.Cricket Victoria’s chief executive, Nick Cummins, was emotional in addressing media on Thursday
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