Pat Cummins out of rest of Ashes series as Australia make two changes for MCG Test

Australia coach Andrew McDonald has revealed the extreme risk selectors took with captain Pat Cummins, who starred in the third Ashes Test in Adelaide on his return to the side, but has now been ruled out for the rest of the series.McDonald and the other selectors named a 15-player squad on Tuesday for the Boxing Day Test, which includes back-up pace trio Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett and second Test hero Michael Neser, as well as Victorian off-spinner Todd Murphy as a replacement for the injured Nathan Lyon.The coach said although Cummins “pulled up fine” in his first match since July following a serious back injury, it was not worth exposing him to possible injury again given the series has now been won.“We were taking on some risk [with his return] but we’ve now won the series and that was the goal,” the coach said. “To position him for further risk and jeopardise him long term is not something that we want to do, and Pat’s really comfortable with that

Rob Key to investigate England’s ‘stag do’ drinking habits on Noosa mid-Ashes break

Rob Key has defended England’s mid-tour break in Noosa but confirmed he will look into reports that excessive drinking by players in between the second and third Ashes Tests turned it into a “glorified stag do”. Key was speaking before unverified social media footage emerged of what appears to be Ben Duckett looking worse for wear during the team’s stay in the Queensland resort town.Sitting 3-0 down to Australia, the Ashes having gone, the team director, Key, has followed the head coach, Brendon McCullum, in stating that his future now rests in the hands of senior figures at the England and Wales Cricket Board.Among the questions that will be asked in a post-series review is whether the four-night break on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast best prepared them for the pivotal Adelaide Test. According to the BBC, a number of players spent six days drinking, having begun after the eight-wicket defeat in Brisbane

Sport stars ‘deeply concerned’ playing fields will be lost under planning reforms

Sports playing fields and facilities in England are at risk of being built over en masse with devastating consequences for local communities, sports stars and governing bodies have warned.The former England footballer Jill Scott along with Olympic gold medallists Mo Farah, Alex Yee and Matthew Pinsent, are among 88 signatories to an open letter saying they are “deeply concerned” about proposed government planning reforms, and say they would hit poorest communities hardest.The letter, which has also been signed by the Football Association, the RFU, the LTA and UK Athletics, comes amid proposals to end Sport England’s statutory right to be consulted on housing developments on playing fields as part of the government’s plans to hit its target of building 1.5m homes.“We are deeply concerned that proposed planning reforms could remove the statutory protections that help safeguard England’s playing fields and sports facilities,” the letter warns

Enchantingly old-school Mr Vango can thrill with Welsh Grand National win

When jumping fans of any age talk about a “proper, old-fashioned steeplechaser”, they have a strapping colossus of a horse in mind, with the strength to keep jumping and powering on through the deepest of winter ground when lesser rivals have cried enough. A horse like Pendil or The Dikler in the 1970s, Desert Orchid or Carvill’s Hill a decade or so later, or Denman lugging top weight to victory in the Hennessy – when it still was the Hennessy, back in 2009.Or, in the here and now, a horse like Mr Vango, the second-favourite for Saturday’s Welsh Grand National at Chepstow. Even in a year when Harry Redknapp has a live runner in the King George VI Chase at Kempton a day earlier, a win for Mr Vango this weekend would quite possibly be the most popular and heartwarming result of the entire festive racing programme.Everything about Sara Bradstock’s nine-year-old is defiantly, and enchantingly, old-school, from his massive frame and engine to the amount of time he has been given to develop and mature

McCullum admitting failure of his methods was gobsmacking but England are learning | Mark Ramprakash

Finally, in the last two days of the third Test with the series already basically lost, England stood up. They have been on a hell of a journey over 11 days of Test cricket, and now – too late – they are getting somewhere.They have reminded me of some of the students who have passed through the school where I teach: they get into the upper sixths and they’re first-team cricketers, the big boys, very confident, dominating the team, playing good cricket, think they’ve cracked the code. Then they have a gap year and go travelling, and suddenly they realise there’s a whole world out there, that life can be tough and things can be done differently. Out of their comfort zone they can mature rapidly as young men and as people

Six balls in Perth to Harry Brook’s drop: 10 moments that decided the Ashes

Lilac Hill warmup, Alex Carey’s glovework and Pat Cummins’ control of Joe Root are key parts of the storyIt’s not a complete exaggeration to say that Australia won the 2025-26 Ashes on 15 October 2024. That was when Cricket Australia announced the schedule for the series: Perth first, Brisbane second. Starting the series on the bounciest, most Kryptonicious pitches in Australia – and the only major venues where England haven’t won a Test since 1986-87 – was a masterstroke, especially as Australia also had a day-night advantage at the Gabba. By the time England reached more batting-friendly climes, many of their batters already had scrambled brains.We may never know the whole truth about whether England could have used the Waca in Perth ahead of the first Test