Ollie Pope backs up first-innings ton with rapid 90 from 67 balls, potentially nailing Ashes No 3 spot, as England record notional five-wicket win over Lions in warm-up game; Brydon Carse takes three

England are banking on their young fast bowlers, but can they pit raw speed against Australia's experienced attack?

It began when Australia won their first Test on English soil on 29 August 1882. The next day in the Sporting Times, English journalist, Reginald Shirley Brooks, published a mock "obituary" to English cricket. He declared the sport dead and 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia'.

England openers Ben Duckett (92) and Zak Crawley (82) impress in opening stand of 182 before a mini collapse of 4-16 in which Joe Root (1) and Harry Brook (2) both depart cheaply; captain Ben Stokes c

More grass on the surfaces, and changes to the Kookaburra ball, have made Test batting in the country difficult over the past half-decade | ESPN.com

True, the Bengals defense may have given 88 points in the last two weeks, but if the Bengals had 17 seconds and Joseph Lee Burrow after Colson Loveland scored his go-ahead touchdown for the Bears, wouldn’t you have felt better about the situation? Granted, you still wouldn’t have felt good, but better.

Good news for Mark Wood and bad for Josh Hazlewood enhance England's chances for the first Ashes Test - now they must take it, writes .

Ivo Bligh was getting bored – a familiar problem for the second son of a British aristocrat. He would not inherit the title of the Earl of Darnley foreseeably; he did not want to join the Army or Church;