Sri Lanka lifts ban from three players as Gunathilaka announces retirement from Tests

The Ashes | Facing multiple injury concerns, England call up Sam Billings in squad for fifth Test

Battling with multiple injury concerns over their first-choice players and also their lack of form in the ongoing Ashes series, England have added Sam Billings into their squad for the fifth and final Test of the series in Australia. Billings is already in Australia and playing in the Big Bash League and it was being reported before the Boxing Day Test that England could well rope in a few players from the tournament to bolster their squad. England faced as many as two major injury concerns in the ongoing Test match in Sydney with side strain to Ben Stokes and ball hitting the thumb of Jonny Bairstow. To add to their woes, Jos Buttler has been woefully out of form both with the bat and also with wicketkeeping gloves behind the wicket. England are 0-3 down in the series and are not in a dominant position in the ongoing Sydney Test either and hence Billings’ addition could also be seen as just a makeshift decision to cover for the injury concerns. There have been reports suggesting Ollie Pope has been seen practising wicketkeeping in the nets and hence Billings’ addition into the squad could also suggest the end of the road for Jos Buttler in the longest format for now.

The Ashes | Bairstow, Stokes fume after Sydney crowd abuse English players

A bloke sitting the Noble Stand of Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney fired abuse at the English duo. The person in question at first mocked Ben Stokes and then taunted Jonny Bairstow, pointing towards their body weights

The Ashes | 4th Test, Day 3: Big challenge remains but Jonny Bairstow's heroics keep England in game

After a session of incisive fast bowling from Australia left them on the brink of another humiliation in the ongoing Ashes series, England made a fighting comeback into the fourth Test match on the back of a swashbuckling century by Jonny Bairstow and gutsy knocks from Mark Wood and Ben Stokes. A lot of work is still left to be done, but the trio ensured England were not handed a real thrashing and that one session was not enough for them to be obliterated entirely out of the game. The day began on an entirely predictable note with Mitchell Starc getting through the defence of Haseeb Hameed. The only difference was that the Australian pacer attack had to wait for some time to get their first wicket but as they broke through for the first time, the wonder boy from Melbourne, Scott Boland, ripped the heart out of England batting by the big wickets of Joe Root and Zak Crawley. England were staring at another “embarrassing” batting performance after Dawid Malan was outsmarted by Cameron Green, but an injured Ben Stokes and a resilient Jonny Bairstow had made up their mind to not go down without fighting. Stokes had hurt his side and could not bat freely with a side strain and hence he tried to up the ante whenever Australian pacers offered him deliveries at fuller or shorter lengths. He was severe against the off-spin of Nathan Lyon as well and it appeared he wanted to maximise his presence at the crease. However, a misjudgement in length cut short his ambitions of making match-turning contributions. Jos Buttler could not help himself and carried on with his batting woes that could spell the end of his association with the England Test side for a significant point of time either after this Test or the series. Meanwhile, Bairstow was smashed on his thumb by a rising delivery from Pat Cummins and it changed the dynamics and intent of the right-hander and he copied Stokes’ model of batting from that point. He switched on his One Day mode and dismissed Australia’s pacers from his presence with disdainful pull shots off the front foot. Both he and Mark Wood matched fire with fire against Australia’s barrage of short balls and carried England beyond the point of follow on. England are still 158 runs behind and they might still go on to lose the Test but the fighting spirit and bullishness with which Bairstow and Stokes batted exemplified what could have been England’s fate in the series if they wouldn’t have committed the cardinal sin of not playing at the field and staying in the moment while deciding their playing XI.

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