Head coach Brendon McCullum insisted England felt “validated” despite an agonising defeat in the first Ashes Test, and doubled down on the selection gamble of Moeen Ali.
England drove the game forward for the majority of five gripping days at Edgbaston but still find themselves 1-0 down with four to play after Australia’s more conservative approach carried them to a two-wicket victory in the dying moments of the final evening.
It needed a brilliant match-winning intervention of 44 not out from captain Pat Cummins to seal the deal, as England failed to defend a target of 281 thanks to his ninth-wicket stand with tailender Nathan Lyon.
England skipper Ben Stokes refused to entertain regrets after the match, commending his team for setting up a dramatic finish to a game that could have fallen flat due to a slow pitch and rain delays.
McCullum is cut from exactly the same cloth and he saw enough from his side to feel sure that their commitment to risky, aggressive cricket was the right way to go.
“I’m really proud of the boys to be honest. I thought it was a cracking Test match,” he said.
“I’m sure everyone that watched all around the world and everyone who was here at Edgbaston absolutely loved it and that includes us. I had an absolutely amazing time.
“Obviously you’d rather have won the game – that’s just the nature of sport sometimes – but I thought the way that we played validated our style of play.
“We firmly believe, the skipper and I, that this gives us our greatest chance.
“Of everyone that has watched this game over the last five days, I would be very surprised if there were too many people who disagree with how we go about playing, because everyone was left entertained.
“You’re not always going to win and we understand that, but we want to keep getting up and throwing punches as a team.”
McCullum was equally undeterred when it came to questions over Moeen’s painful return to the Test arena.
The 36-year-old was tempted out of red-ball retirement after Jack Leach went down with a stress fracture but, despite producing a couple of superb wicket-taking deliveries, he was reduced to a peripheral role in the critical fourth innings after a blister opened up on his right index finger.
That left England relying heavily on Joe Root’s part-time off-breaks and invited speculation over Moeen’s place in the second Test at Lord’s next Wednesday.
McCullum suggested some thought would be given to possible call-ups – with Surrey’s Will Jacks the most obvious candidate – but was confident that the injury could be resolved in the coming days. If that is the case, he guaranteed Moeen another shot.
“You’ve got to have some ideas and some theories up your sleeve and some options as well, but I’m pretty confident that we can get on top of Mo’s finger,” he said.
“That will give us an opportunity to select him in the next game and if he’s available, he will be selected.
“I thought Mo did a great job – he bowled a couple of absolute ‘jaffas’ in the game and that’s what his role was, to try and make breakthroughs when he had the opportunity.
“He’s got a big smile on his face, he’s loving being back playing Test cricket, which is testament to the game and also Stokesy and all the boys for making the environment one that you want to be a part of.”
Jonny Bairstow was another player who had some words of encouragement from McCullum after a tricky time behind the stumps.
He dropped a couple of catches and missed a stumping in the match, leaving some pining for the absent Ben Foakes and his imperious glovework.
Bairstow’s return from a broken leg and the emergence of Harry Brook at number five means Foakes will continue to be the odd man out and McCullum, a former international wicketkeeper, declared himself content with the status quo.
“I thought they were pretty tough mistakes to be honest. I’ve kept over here before, it’s not the easiest place. When the ball is spitting and bouncing out of the rough, it can be quite difficult,” he said.
“I actually thought Jonny kept really well right throughout. If you look at the way he progressed throughout the game, I think he found a natural rhythm.
“We know what he offers with the bat, him coming in at seven is a real weapon for us as well, so I think he’ll be better for the run.”
Bayern star Kane scores 400th senior goal
Harry Kane surpassed the 400-goal mark for his senior career as his double helped Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
Kane moved within one of the milestone as he put Bayern 1-0 up after just nine minutes, coolly finishing from close range after Konrad Laimer's pass had set him up.
Then, after Frankfurt levelled through Hugo Ekitike, Kane slotted home a penalty with typical aplomb following a foul on Thomas Muller to move himself onto 400 career goals and ultimately lead Bayern to victory.
Kane scored 280 of his goals in 435 appearances for Tottenham, overtaking Jimmy Greaves to become the club's all-time leading scorer when he netted for the 267th time in Spurs colours against Manchester City last February.
His tally of 213 Premier League goals, meanwhile, puts him just 47 behind the competition's all-time leader Alan Shearer, who scored 260 times for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.
Kane is also the most prolific player in England's history, his 62 goals for the Three Lions coming in 89 international appearances.
He memorably missed the chance to surpass Wayne Rooney's previous record of 53 when he blazed a penalty over the crossbar in the Three Lions' quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup, only to clinch his place in history in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy three months later.
The very first goal of Kane's senior career came in League One during a loan spell with Leyton Orient as they thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in January 2011.
That was the first of five goals Kane scored in O's colours, while he also netted nine times in a loan spell with Millwall in 2011-12 and twice during a stint with Leicester City the following season.
IPL: Fraser-McGurk leads the way as Capitals hold off Mumbai
Delhi Capitals withstood Mumbai Indian’s late surge and held on for a 10-run victory at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Jake Fraser-McGurk top-scored with 84 – hitting 50 off just 15 balls – while Tristan Stubbs (48) and Shai Hope (41) also chipped in with important contributions as the Capitals set a target of 258.
Mukesh Kumar (3/59) and Rasikh Salam (3/34) did their best to halt Mumbai’s revival, but they turned up the pressure to require 25 runs from the final over.
However, despite Luke Wood and Piyush Chawla’s best efforts, Delhi held out for a second successive win.
Data debrief
Wood almost made amends after conceding 68 runs during the opening innings – the joint-most in the IPL this season, matching Reece Topley’s tally against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Tilak Varma led Mumbai’s attempted revival with 63 for his sixth half-century in the IPL, though they have all come in defeats
Chase outdone by opposite number Paudel as West Indies A suffer four-wicket loss to Nepal
West Indies A’s tour of Nepal got off to an unfortunate start, after they suffered a four-wicket loss to their host in a high scoring opening fixture of their five-match Twenty20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.
Set a formidable 204 by West Indies A, Nepal’s thrilling victory, which was set up by a captain’s knock from Rohit Paudel, etched their names in the history books, as they successfully got to their target at 206-6 with two balls to spare.
Paudel smashed a 54-ball 112, including 10 fours and two sixes to see his team to a 1-0 lead in the series, which West Indies Head coach Darren Sammy said offers his team a chance to define roles and personnel more clearly for their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.
However, the Caribbean side’s all-round effort was found wanting, as only captain Roston Chase (74), Alick Athanaze (47) and Keacy Carty (38) offered any resistance with the bat, while only Obed McCoy (2-34) and Matthew Forde (2-49) had some semblance of success with the ball.
Scores: West Indies A 204-5 (20 overs); Nepal 206-6 (19.4 overs)
Asked to take first strike, after losing the toss, West Indies A suffered an early blow, as they lost Johnson Charles (zero) off the last ball of the opening over, with 16 runs on the board. Andre Fletcher (13) stuck two sixes off five balls, before he too departed via the run-out route, leaving West Indies A at 43-2 in the fourth over.
However, Athanaze went about business, striking three sixes and five fours in a 25-ball knock, as he put on 43 for the third wicket with Chase, prior to his demise. From there, Chase and Carty added another 60 runs in a fourth-wicket stand that defined the innings.
Carty’s 38 off 26 balls, included two fours and three sixes, while Chase, who anchored the innings with a captain’s knock, struck nine fours and two sixes in his 46-ball 74. Kadeem Alleyne, on 14, and Keemo Paul, one, were left not out.
No Nepal bowler took more than one wicket.
With runs on the board, West Indies A would have felt confident of wrapping up a win, even more so, after Forde and McCoy combined to remove openers Anil Sah (five) and Kushal Bhurtel (16) to have Nepal at 38-2 in the fifth over.
West Indies remained in the ascendancy when Fletcher and Charles combined to run out Kushal Malla (16), leaving their host on the ropes at 82-3 at the halfway mark.
However, Paudel showed class, in not only reviving his team’s innings, but pushed them all the way with some aggressive stroke play, assisted by wayward bowling from West Indies A attack at times. Dipendra Singh Airee (24) offered support to his captain in getting Nepal across the line for a famous victory.
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