We can best prepare ourselves for Ashes by winning matches against NZ & Ind: Joe Root

England begin their long Test summer with the two-match series against New Zealand at home on Wednesday (June 2, 2021) at the Lord’s. The English team will then take on India in a five-match series on home soil.

Captain Joe Root is seeing the two Test series at home as a build up to Ashes and has further added that a clean sweep win against both the sides will give his team a lot of confidence.

"There are going to be constant conversations about Australia throughout this whole summer, there is no getting away from that," Root told reporters.

"It is of utmost importance, absolutely. But the way we are best going to prepare ourselves is by performing well in these seven Tests, by winning seven Test matches against the best two sides in the world," he added.

Root further said that he couldn’t have asked for better opponents to go ahead with the preparations.

"You couldn't be asking for two better opponents right now - to take on the best is what sport is all about and every Test means a hell of a lot to our players and to me. These Tests are our full focus."

While England will host both New Zealand and India, the two sides will lock horns with each other in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in Southampton with the encounter scheduled to begin from June 18.

The Ashes on the other side will begin on December 8 in Brisbane.

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Will talk to Mohammad Amir and will discuss what his issues are: Babar Azam

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has shown some optimism for left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir’s return to international cricket. In an interview with Cricket Pakistan Azam has said that he will 'talk to him about his issues' that are hindering his comeback to the international arena. Amir had retired from international cricket in December 2020 citing 'mental torture' and had accused the coaching staff of negative behaviour against him. "When we talk, we'll discuss what his issues [with the national side] are," Azam said. "He's one of the best left-arm bowlers and I really admire him. The way he's performed in the PSL so far, I just hope he performs the same way again, and that's what we are focused on so far." Over the last month, several Pakistan players including star all rounder Shoaib Malik had accused the Pakistan Cricket Board of nepotism. In an interview with Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq he had confided that he was putting his career on the line by speaking out about the issue but he had no regrets doing it. The left-arm fast bowler was one of the three players apart from Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif to be slapped with a ban after he was found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal during the Lord's Test in 2010. While Butt was banned for ten years, Asif for seven years, Amir was handed over a ban of five years. Amir was capped 36 times in Tests while playing 61 ODIs and 50 T20Is for Pakistan before announcing his retirement. He scalped a total of 119 wickets in the longer format while had 81 scalps in Odis and 59 in T20Is respectively.

PSL 2021 final shifted to June 24, Pakistan team to leave for England on June 25

The final of the Pakistan Super League 2021 has now been pushed to June 24 after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) held an online meeting with the franchise owners on Tuesday. The title clash was earlier slated to take place on June 20. The shifts in the date for the PSL final will mean that the Pakistan team that had to depart for England on June 23 will now take the flight on June 25. "Pakistan men's team to now depart for England on 25 June instead of 23 June," PCB said in a release. "Departure for England on 25 June will mean only three double-headers, if the event commences on 7 June," the board added. Pakistan are scheduled to play three ODIs and as many T20Is against England beginning from July 8. Meanwhile, the resumption of PSL’s 2021 edition is not possible on June 5. The delay in the start of the tournament has been caused by the various travel restrictions for crew and players from India and South Africa. PSL 2021 was earlier suspended after there was a rise in COVID-19 cases within the franchise teams. The PCB had then decided to resume the competition on June 1 with all the matches including the final to take place in Karachi. The final was supposed to be held on June 20. But the franchises made the request to the PCB to shift the tournament to the UAE citing the COVID-19 situation in the country.

ICC announces 14-team ODI World Cups, 20-team T20 World Cups, BCCI retains host status of 2021 T20 World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) board has given its approval to upgrade the ICC men’s ODI and T20 World Cup in the next round of Future Tour Programmes. The development will see 14 teams participating in the biggest ODI tournament from the 2027 to 2031 edition while the T20 World Cup will see 20 teams participating in a 55 match-long event in the 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030 editions. The ODI World Cup has also been restructured in line with the 2003 edition with 14 teams divided into two groups and three teams from both groups advancing to the super six stage that will pave the way for the top two teams from the groups for the semi-finals and the final. The ICC Board has maintained that the Board of control for Cricket in India would be retained as the host of the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year irrespective of the country the tournament will actually be played in. ICC Board has decided to defer the decision making over organising the event in India to later this month but also asked the management responsible for holding the event to prepare additional venues in the Middle East.

We are professional enough to move on: Ramesh Powar

Indian women’s team head coach Ramesh Powar has said that he and the skipper Mithali Raj wants to work towards the betterment of the team. “I would like to stop the speculation (on) what is happening. We interacted well, otherwise I wouldn’t have come into the women’s cricket,’ Powar said. “I don’t think we are going to go back on small things where we are professional enough to move on and everyone should move on,” he added. The Indian team will be playing a one-off Test against England during their tour to UK and the former off-spinner has said that it is a good opportunity for everyone to take women’s cricket to another level. “This is a great opportunity for me, Mithali, for the whole group, to take women’s cricket to another level, where the BCCI is supporting us.” Mithali herself emphasised on focusing more on the game and leaving the past behind. “Can we move on from that? Because it has been three years, we are in 2021, we should be looking forward to many more series and if we need to get behind the past,” the captain said. Apart from the one-off Test, India will also play a three-match ODI series and as many T20Is.