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Ben Stokes could be back soon as England captain as mood turns his way

Regulator’s initial report into nightclub affair due soonStokes has made it clear that he wants to play onThe England and Wales Cricket Board is hopeful that Ben Stokes will be able to make a quick return as England captain. Brendon McCullum, the head coach, and Rob Key, the team’s managing director, refused to say that they wanted Stokes back in the side in press conferences over the last week, but behind the scenes the mood is believed to be more optimistic.The ECB is understood to be waiting for a report from the Cricket Regulator into Stokes’s actions in breaking the team curfew along with the fast bowler Gus Atkinson after England’s first Test win over New Zealand at Lord’s last week. The regulator’s preliminary report is due in the next few days, and its contents will inform the ECB’s next steps. Continue reading...

1 hour ago

Sonny Baker’s second day was a lesson that Test cricket turns on you quick | Andy Bull

Debutant and Joe Root had a sloppy morning in England’s bid to bowl New Zealand out cheaply in the second TestIt was bright and loud when Sonny Baker came on to bowl for the first time in Test cricket. He hadn’t slept the night before, too many nerves, and had found, when he saw his parents at the cap ceremony before the start of play, that he was almost overwhelmed by emotion, and now here he was an hour later and the midday sun glaring off the glass of the big JM Finn Stand and the crowd all around roaring for Matt Fisher as he came in to bowl from the Vauxhall End. Baker was at mid-on and over at slip Joe Root was waving at him. Baker couldn’t tell exactly what it was Root was trying to communicate as he flapped his hands around.Root replied in kind with a wave of his own. Root made another gesture. So did Baker. “I didn’t know whether he was trying to bring me up for that over or not,” he said later. The two of them stood a while, making frantic hand signals at each other, neither quite clear what the other was trying to sign to the other. Continue reading...

2 hours ago