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Stokes faces both offspinners in floodlit nets session as England consider change to all-pace strategy

Vithushan Ehantharajah01-Dec-2025

Around 20 punters watched England’s first evening net at the Gabba ahead of the day-night Ashes Test starting on Thursday.The outdoor facilities at this historic but ageing colosseum are the most amenable in the world for observers, offering a behind-the-batter view of what it’s like to face the fiercest bowlers going. There were plenty of eyes on the lane closest to Main Street, as Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson steamed in with the pink Kookaburra ball.But it was the net furthest away that had the most immediate interest ahead of the second Test. Both Shoaib Bashir and Will Jacks were bowling their offspin to England captain Ben Stokes, duking it out for what seems, at this juncture, the last available spot in the XI.Related

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Mark Wood has been ruled out – England are optimistic his heavily strapped left knee will get adequate rest to ensure he is back in the mix for Adelaide – but the other 10 starters from the defeat in Perth are likely to be rolled out again.Josh Tongue is the most like-for-like replacement if the tourists want to repeat their all-pace attack from Perth. But they are understood to be trending more towards spin in their bid to come back from 1-0 down, with the expectation that the pink Kookaburra will soften earlier than the red one.The pair have had very different routes to these Ashes. Bashir has been the captain’s go-to spinner since a shock call-up to the India tour at the start of 2024, with 68 wickets in 19 caps to date. His traits – a high release-point, revs coming from over the top of the ball – were deemed better suited to Test pitches (particularly Australian ones) compared to traditional English, doorknob-turning finger spinners.Jacks, an allrounder, was the first conventional offspinner picked by Stokes, drafted on the tour of Pakistan in the winter of 2022 for his only two Test caps after developing as Surrey’s primary spin option. He took 6 for 161 in his first go on debut – the first Test at Rawalpindi – and showed his dexterity as a batter by slotting in at No. 3 in the second innings of the next Test in Multan to give Ollie Pope extra rest after keeping. That he is on this tour owes as much to his batting – destructive qualities, and comfort filling in any top six position – and his tall action and ambition with the ball.Bashir is understood to be the one in pole position, though it was Jacks who seemed to have the better of it on Monday night, before padding up. Nets can only tell you so much, of course. Stokes and the rest of England’s batters were focused on getting attuned to the shift from day to night, and then how the floodlights transformed the grass beneath their feet. They will have one more hit in similar conditions on Wednesday before they get going in their attempts to square the series.Visiting spinners have had very little success with the pink ball over here, collectively managing just 28 wickets at 64.03. Joe Root’s three in the Adelaide Test on the 2021-22 tour has him joint-second on that list (with Yasir Shah); Dawid Malan is joint-fourth with two picked up from that same game. R Ashwin sits top with six at 20.66.England would not be wrong to look at Nathan Lyon’s impressive record of 43 dismissals at 25.62 from his 13 day-night home Tests and surmise spin is a must. But they may take more meaningful notes from Kevin Sinclair’s cameo in Australia’s one and only pink ball defeat.That came here at the Gabba last year. Sinclair – also an offspinner – struck a vital 50 and then 14 not out, both from No. 7, in a tight eight-run win. He bowled just eight overs, all in Australia’s first innings which sandwiched his batting efforts, but was able to snare Usman Khawaja for 75. Replicating Sinclair’s impact rather than Lyon’s is a far easier task and would favour Jacks.It will be these cues from day-night affairs in Australia, and England’s own learnings from the seven they have played, that will continue to be disseminated among the group over the coming days. The entire top five played in England’s last pink-ball Test – against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in 2023 – but Jamie Smith, for instance, will be playing his first of any kind.”We’ve spoken with the guys who have played some pink-ball games, and had a look at some of the pink-ball games that have been played in Australia in the past four or five years,” Carse said. His only day-night match happened to be in this country for England Lions against Australia A at Melbourne in January 2020.”On an evening, it does seem to do a little bit more, especially if you have a slightly newer ball, which I’m sure we’ll take into consideration throughout the game. It’s going to be exciting. I’m expecting a massive crowd, a hostile crowd. The guys are really looking forward to it.”I think looking back at a couple of highlights of previous games played in Australia, it’s certainly very admirable how their new-ball bowling goes. You know, they strike early and I think that’s going to be important, whether that’s certain lines we’ll be bowling or maybe bowling a touch fuller to let it swing. They’ve played some really good cricket with a pink ball. So, yeah, I’d like to say that we’ve had a look at some of the stuff that they’ve done over the previous years.”

Sunderland aren’t going to rest on their laurels now that they’ve tasted success in the Premier League.

The hope will be that the Black Cats continue to punch above their weight and secure safety effortlessly, even if the 1-0 defeat away at Fulham last time out saw Regis Le Bris’ men return to league action, after the international break, looking rusty.

Still, with five impressive league wins already under their belt, the Wearside outfit have more than shown that they belong at the very top of English football.

To get over the line, though, and remain in a comfortable mid-table position, Sunderland could be prepared to flex their spending powers once more, as the January transfer window becomes the talk of the town.

The main incoming being hyped up at the moment is Matteo Guendouzi coming to the Stadium of Light, with Le Bris yet to rule out a statement deal.

Why Guendouzi would be a perfect signing

Once upon a time, Guendouzi worked under Le Bris at Lorient, before the French battler would seal a move to England with Arsenal.

While he wasn’t always showered with praise at the Gunners, he did bow out from his final Premier League season in North London with 4.9 duels won on average across 24 league outings, with more grit centrally perhaps what is required, alongside the likes of Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki.

Guendouzi has also matured now into a regular in Serie A with Lazio, away from his previous 57 Premier League appearances at the Emirates, with inviting deliveries such as this one last season, perfect for a commanding Daniel Ballard to latch onto.

In total, the Lazio number eight has six goals and ten assists for the Italian giants.

With an 89% pass accuracy also averaged this season in league action, on top of a high 4.3 ball recoveries being averaged, it’s clear that he won’t move back to England for cheap, as reports suggest that a fee around the £26m mark could do the job.

Sunderland won’t be put off too much, if their excessive summer spending is anything to go by, but a deal in the works for a new star-man might ultimately shove this fan favourite closer to the exit door.

Sunderland's "proper leader" could be on borrowed time

The strange side-effect of winning promotion is that several of the players who clinched Sunderland’s unbelievable return to the Premier League now aren’t quite cut out for the pressures of the big time.

Dan Neil has definitely experienced this first-hand this season so far, with the mega-money arrivals of the aforementioned Xhaka and Sadiki plummeting him down the pecking order, so much so that he has only managed a mere two minutes of action in the bright lights of the Premier League to date.

Staggeringly, if you turn the calendar just back to May, Neil was the memorable captain figure who lifted Sunderland’s jubilant playoff honours at Wembley.

In the regular season, too, the Stadium of Light prodigy also lined up for the Black Cats 44 times, with two goals and three assists coming his way.

Sunderland youngster Harrison Jones would even herald him as a “proper leader” for the club, with Neil rising the ranks to become his boyhood club’s captain figure.

On top of that, he also had admirers in the form of Everton in the bumper summer window, which might be a move he now regrets not accelerating into motion, as he begins to stare the exit door in the face more through lack of gametime than inspired performances.

Journalist James Copley summed it up well when he called him a “bit part” player recently, which is a far cry from his Wembley heroics.

Neil’s last minutes for his hometown club actually came for the U21s as he continues to be frozen out by Le Bris, and with his contract expiring next summer, it’s not a good omen at all for his long-term future at the Premier League newcomers.

Games played

200

Goals scored

12

Assists

20

Promotions

1x

Contract expiry date

June 2026

To make matters worse, if Guendouzi were to arrive, Neil would find himself even further down the Frenchman’s selection list, with the 23-year-old simply unable to compete with the wealth of top-flight experience the Lazio man has under his belt.

It will be intriguing to see if any club gambles on Neil’s services in January, with a cut-price deal potentially on the table for a Championship-experienced promotion winner, who is currently valued at around £7m by Transfermarkt.

If no one does come in for him, expect Sunderland to just run his contract down, particularly if Guendouzi is added to the ever-rising wage bill.

An Isidor repeat: Sunderland line up move to sign "special" £4.7m star

Sunderland could win their next Wilson Isidor by going after this star in January.

ByKelan Sarson Nov 24, 2025

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy believes the seam attack they have picked in the Test squad for the two-match tour of India next month has the “variety” to “operate in any conditions” and “pick 20 wickets”.The West Indies pace attack features Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales, along with allrounder Justin Greaves. West Indies haven’t won a Test series in India in 42 years but Sammy said they would take inspiration from the way New Zealand blanked India 3-0 towards the end of 2024 and try to “emulate” that.”We have found ourselves in a position where our seam attack could operate in any conditions,” Sammy said in a press conference. “That six-to-eight-metre length works across the world. But in our fast-bowling department, we’ve got four different guys who have their own variety.Related

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“You have Shamar Joseph, who’s very skiddy, Jayden, who has a strong front leg and can swing the ball both ways, then you have Alzarri Joseph with his height and the bounce he could extract. So, again, we take confidence in that, especially the way they’ve been bowling over the last year. The ability to take 20 wickets, because that’s what you will need in India. If you can’t take 20 wickets in India, you are on the back foot and we have a bowling line-up of that, especially from the seam department, that could take 20 wickets.”The process remains the same. The lines and lengths don’t change in terms of that six-to-eight-metre length. Maybe it’s just adjusting whether it’s a touch fuller or touch further back into the pitch. I have full confidence in that and it makes me smile knowing that we go out bowling and we take 20 wickets. And that’s the first objective in the Test match.”Sammy, who is also the coach of St Lucia Kings in the ongoing CPL 2025, said he had utilised the last six weeks he had spent with Test captain Roston Chase in the Kings dressing room to discuss and plan for the India tour and their attempt would be “to continue instilling that belief matched up by the work we put in to bring the technical aspects of the game up to where we could compete and win matches”.He also said that they had looked at “a lot of data” to come up with the “best squad” to identify the players for specific roles with their skill sets.”From my end, the ten days leading up to the [first] Test match [in India], we’ll be drilling in all these things and planning very well as to how we’re going to beat India in India,” Sammy said. “We’re definitely going down there with the mindset to win. We’re not just going to go down there and think, “oh, it’s India”. No. New Zealand went there and did incredibly well and that we should take inspiration from. But again, it’s understanding the things that New Zealand did in those conditions and try to emulate it with our guys as well.”Sammy also said former captain Jason Holder was “considered” for the tour but “the role that we’d love for him to play is being played by Justin Greaves.” West Indies also took the big decision of dropping their former captain Kraigg Brathwaite from the 15-man squad and have brought back Alick Athanaze and Tagenarine Chanderpaul. Sammy said recalling Chanderpaul, who last played a Test in January 2024, was down to many factors, such as numbers, form, and the other options available to the selectors.Tagenarine Chanderpaul is back after last playing a Test match in January 2024•Associated Press

“Before Tage got injured in the 4-Day Championship, he was averaging, I think, 47 [42 in the 2024-25 season, batting well and just looking at our depth chart, who we have with the opening spot over the last few series, not really giving us the numbers and the results that we want,” Sammy said. “When we look at the role needed for one of these openers, Tage brings that sort of clarity of thought that we’re looking at in terms of the skillset and what that role requires. And his experience, the ability to play spin, he was probably right up there as one of the better contenders for that role. So [he’s a] young man, you speak about transitioning, he made a very strong case for the opening spot.”And in the absence of Kraigg, the next best person that played that type of similar role would have been Tage. And we’re hoping that the build-up before, what he’s been doing here in Guyana, preparation he’s been putting in would be would be good enough to be executed in India.”Explaining the recall of Athanaze, Sammy said, “The return of Alick, again, looking at the conditions, looking at what we’ll face, Alick, we knew before Australia that Alick was always going to come back into the set-up, based on the conditions that we will face and the skillset that would require us to be successful. So again, we don’t just stay there and just pick and pluck players from nowhere. We do a lot of information, a lot of data collected, and we try to come up with the best squad in terms of the roles and the skillset required.”West Indies’ spin attack features Jomel Warrican, the uncapped Khary Pierre and Chase. They have rested left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie keeping in mind his workload in the lead up to the T20 World Cup early next year as he recently played the full CPL season. But Sammy said, “Motie is a very strong contender in all formats.”

‘Durability’ brings veteran Khary Pierre rare opportunity

Explaining the inclusion of Pierre, who will turn 34 next week and has never played Test cricket, for his maiden tour of India, CWI’s senior talent manager Jamal Smith said, “This year, Pierre was able to average just 13.56 and [had an] economy of 2.37 [at the WI Championship],” Smith said. “He’s actually topped the West Indies Championship list, followed closely by Joshua Bishop. I want to say here or insert here that Pierre, obviously, I like to title these cricketers as journeymen, who has been around for first-class domestic set-up for quite a while.Khary Pierre is a familiar face in T20 line-ups, but has never played Test cricket for West Indies•Getty Images

“He’s always been a consistent enough performer in terms of the areas that he bowled. Then he’s been afforded the opportunity to play just a level above the A team or I think the solitary ODI tour. He’s always just shown just enough. But last year in particular, or this season, I should say, we felt that he bowled really, really well.”Pierre has so far played 35 first-class matches for 111 wickets at an average of 22.81, with four five-fors. His last red-ball outing was for West Indies A against the touring South Africa A side in June earlier this year.”You take the extra spin in Khary Pierre because of his experience, first of all, and his durability, his consistency,” Smith said. “If you have managed to watch some CPL last night, for instance, you’ll be seeing him when they’re on the field, quite expertly, to be honest, taking the safest catches as well, to augment with the way that he struck the ball and also how he bowls. He’s the kind of guy that you can give the information to, especially on a tour to India.”Hopefully, he will be able to execute, basically back on his experience, his durability over a long first-class career. You’re hoping that he can put all those things together. At this stage, you’d prefer to go with a guy like Khary Pierre as opposed to probably a youngster.”The series will start on October 2 in Ahmedabad, with the second Test scheduled from October 10 in Delhi.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has made clear that bilateral contests are off but matches in multi-nation tournaments can go ahead

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Aug-2025India will not host or visit Pakistan for bilateral contests, but their athletes and teams can take part in multi-nation events that also involve Pakistan, clearing the path for their upcoming fixtures in the men’s Asia Cup in September and the women’s ODI World Cup in October.Pakistan sportspersons can also participate in multilateral events hosted by India.The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports set down these guidelines in a statement, clarifying the Indian government’s position on sporting relations with Pakistan at a time of strained political relations between the two South Asian countries. The statement left one question unanswered: whether Indian athletes can take part in multilateral events hosted by Pakistan.Related

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The statement comes less than three weeks from the scheduled start of the Asia Cup in the UAE, where India and Pakistan, drawn in the same group, are set to meet at least once (on September 14 in Dubai), and potentially up to three times. It will be India’s first cricket match against Pakistan since the two countries exchanged cross-border hostilities following the Pahalgam terror attack in April.There have been calls, in this climate, for India to boycott all sporting contact with Pakistan. During July’s World Championship of Legends, a tournament featuring retired players, both matches between the teams from the two countries had been abandoned, with the India Champions forfeiting their semi-final against the Pakistan Champions.With the Indian government making its stand clear, India now have official sanction to play Pakistan in the Asia Cup, which was originally to be hosted by India before being moved to the UAE in July.”In so far as bilateral sports events in each other’s country are concerned, Indian teams will not be participating in competitions in Pakistan. Nor will we permit Pakistani teams to play in India,” the ministry’s statement said.In a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, calls for India to boycott all sporting contact with Pakistan have grown louder•Associated Press

“With regard to international and multilateral events, in India or abroad, we are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons. It is also relevant to take into account India’s emergence as a credible venue to host international sports events.”Accordingly, Indian teams and individual players will take part in international events that also have teams or players from Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistani players and teams will be able to participate in such multilateral events hosted by India.”To position India as a preferred destination for hosting international sporting events, the visa process for sportspersons, team officials, technical personnel, and office-bearers of International Sports Governing Bodies shall be simplified. In respect of office-bearers of International Sports Governing Bodies, a multi-entry visa shall be granted on priority basis for the duration of their official tenure, subject to a maximum period of five years. This shall facilitate their smooth movement into and within the country, in accordance with international norms. Due protocol and courtesies, as per established practice, shall be extended to the Heads of International Sports Governing Bodies during their visits to India.”The statement lays down in unambiguous terms what have been the Indian government’s unwritten guidelines for cricketing engagements with Pakistan for more than a decade. The two countries have not met in a bilateral series in any format since 2012, but they have faced off multiple times at the ODI and T20 World Cups, the Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup.Pakistan have visited India for the T20 World Cup in 2016 and the ODI World Cup in 2023, but India did not visit Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Their matches, including their semi-final and final, were played in Dubai. The BCCI and the PCB have agreed on this hybrid model for all remaining ICC events in the 2024-27 cycle.

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