England had taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series in India but Ben Stokes and his men let the hosts draw parity in the second Test as all their batters were unable to get big scores.
Alastair Cook and Joe Root made centuries to lift England to a commanding 314 for four at the close on the first day of the second test against Pakistan on Friday.
'You are going to face an England team where Joe Root is back to his absolute best, where Oliver Pope is playing his best-ever for England. Ben Stokes has amalgamated the team and got playing in an ultra-positive and rock and roll fashion.'
Joe Root does not admit to being a natural leader but England's new Test captain says the time spent as Alastair Cook's understudy has groomed him for the responsibility.
'I've had enough of umpire's call. Let's just ban umpire's call.'
Thrown into Jonathan Trott's vacant number three position, Joe Root led from the front to restore some pride for a wounded England on day four of the second Ashes test on Sunday, savouring a war of words with Australia's frustrated fielders.
The fourth Test ended in a draw late on day five, with home captain Smith's unbeaten 102 saving Australia and doling out another portion of frustration for England's bowlers, who toiled fruitlessly on a flat Melbourne Cricket Ground strip.
Jonny Bairstow is the 17th England player to complete the landmark of 100 Test matches.
'For us to come away with a drawn series would be a really good achievement'
Washington Sundar jumped seven places to move to 46th on the same list for Test bowlers.
New Zealand took charge on the second day of the third Test by dismissing England for 143 and making 136/3 at close of play for an overall lead of 340.
Joe Root struck an unbeaten 90 as he and Chris Woakes steered England to a four-wicket victory over West Indies in their second One-day international on Sunday.
Virat Kohli and Steve Smith have indulged in fiery on field exchanges early in their careers but their relationship has evolved in recent times.
Australia batsman David Warner issued an apology for getting involved in a late night bar-room fracas with young England player Joe Root.
'We felt like we had a lot of different wicket-taking opportunities. The odd ball was staying low, we got the ball reversing a little bit, and got the odd ball to spin as well. It's never an easy position.'
Riding on Joe Root's ton and Moeen Ali's half century (99 batting), England made most of the favourable conditions to finish Day 1 on 311/4. Here are the statistical highlights from Day 1 of the 1st Test in Rajkot on Wednesday.
Ahead of Wednesday's first Ashes Test in Cardiff, Root expressed his disappointment by posting two messages on Twitter.
Both players had a forgettable outing at Brisbane as Australia went 1-0 up in the series.
Jos Buttler will captain the team for the Caribbean tour, with Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone featuring in the ODI group from the showpiece event.
Legendary Australian cricketer Ian Chappell has punched holes in England skipper Ben Stokes' aggressive leadership tactics during the just-concluded five-Test series against India, saying some of his decisions were responsible for the visitors' 1-4 series humiliation.
Woakes returned to the test squad for the first time since July 2023 in what will be England pace great James Anderson's farewell series.
With the emergence of their battery of fast bowlers, India have turned the tide at Lord's with two of their victories coming from their last three Tests -- in 2014 and 2021.
Captain Root mastered the pink ball to make 136 and Cook was unbeaten on 153 at the close as England recovered strongly from a perilous 39 for two to take control of the game at Edgbaston.
The Rajasthan Royals team met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.
'Pathum Nissanka is easily one of the best batters to have come out of Sri Lanka in the recent past and he has delivered once again,' he tweeted with an applause emoji.
Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley scripted a remarkable turnaround and set up England's thrilling 28-run victory against India in the opening Test at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.
Australia will be without their premier pacers but their envious pedigree in ICC tournaments make them favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy from Group B.
'I always know that when he gets into that game, he'll want to put his mark on it, put his stamp on it.'
'If we're going to be the best team in the world we're going to have to play on good wickets which are flat in certain periods. We're also going to have to be able to learn to deal with the scoreboard pressure. We should also be able to deal with the pressure of spinning wicket towards the back end of the Test match.'
England's Test captain Joe Root considers India's Virat Kohli as currently the most complete player around and said he expects England team mate Jos Buttler to soon replicate his limited-overs dominance in Test cricket.
'Virat not in the same Bat balancing league as Joe.'
Kane Williamson scored a magisterial 156 at his most productive venue to drive New Zealand to the brink of a consolation victory over England at the end of the third day of the third Test.
Joe Root smashed an unbeaten century to steer England to a convincing eight-wicket against Bangladesh in the opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy in London, on Thursday.
England skipper Joe Root said he feels like the spectators have almost been "robbed" as they came to watch to the stadium to watch Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma face the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad but instead watching him taking wickets.
England captain Joe Root hailed Moeen Ali as a role model and said he would be a huge loss to the Test side after the all-rounder announced his decision to quit the longest format of the game on Monday.
England captain Eoin Morgan insisted that although they produced an aggressive brand of cricket, the real test would be to find consistency.
Smith needs just 315 runs to become the fourth Australian batter after Ricky Ponting (13378), Allan Border (11174), and Steve Waugh (10927) to reach the landmark of 10,000 Test runs.
Joe Root's third hundred powered England to a five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fifth One-day international in Pallekele on Thursday and kept alive their hopes in the seven-match series. After rain forced play to be suspended on Wednesday, the visitors returned to chase down a 240-run victory target and won with five balls to spare.
England batsman Joe Root on Wednesday expressed joy at the "good day" his side experienced and was also confident that they can take the six remaining Indian wickets on day five of the third cricket Test in Southampton.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag believes all is not well with the Rahul Dravid-coached Indian team and a few things needed to be addressed as soon as possible after England pulled off a record 378-run chase.
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