The Ashes returns on 21 November and plenty of batters will be dreaming of runs before the opening Test in Perth.
Eighteen batters have racked up more than 1,000 runs in men’s Ashes Tests since 2005, can you name them all?
One of the messages that came through loud and clear when we asked for your views on Reinventing Football was you hate time-wasting.
Whether it’s simply slowing the game down, or creating a tactical timeout with an apparent injury, it’s affecting your enjoyment of matches.
World governing body Fifa, for its part, wants to see 60 minutes of football from a 90-minute game. It came closest to that at the 2022 World Cup by adding lots of stoppage time – but even then the average ball-in-play time was 59 minutes and 28 seconds.
Domestic leagues were encouraged to make combatting lost time a priority. It worked for a short time but – as is often the case in such competitions – it drifted away.
The International Football Association Board (Ifab) – football’s law-makers – have kicked around the idea of stopping the clock when the ball goes out.
The thinking is that with two halves of 30 minutes and the clock stopped when the ball goes out, Fifa would get the 60 minutes of ball in play it wants.
When Europe’s top five leagues followed Fifa’s lead and clamped down on time-wasting in 2023-24, it actually worked – and all enjoyed high ball-in-play time.
But season after season since, that has dropped away.
From a high of 58 minutes and 11 seconds in that Premier League campaign, it fell to 56 minutes and 59 seconds in 2024-25, and 55 minutes and five seconds this season, with games still lasting more than 100 minutes on average.
It’s almost back to the 54 minutes and 49 seconds recorded in 2022-23 – but the average match length was shorter then – 98 minutes and 27 seconds – so more time is actually being wasted.
And two games this season – Aston Villa v Bournemouth (45 minutes and 48 seconds) and Newcastle v Liverpool (45 minutes and 55 seconds) – have even had under 46 minutes of ball-in-play time.
The Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 have experienced the same downward trend as England’s top flight, and only La Liga has enjoyed a small uptick this season – to 55 minutes and 14 seconds from 55 minutes and 10 seconds two seasons ago.
Uefa asks its referees to be more proactive, and the Champions League always gets more ball-in-play time relative to added time – this season 56 minutes and eight seconds of football in an average match length of 97 minutes and 22 seconds.
When Ifab met last month, there was a “particular focus on further measures to improve the flow of play and minimise interruptions”.
The main targets? Throw-ins and goal-kicks. Ifab’s technical panels have discussed placing a time limit on both, and looking at the stats makes it clear why.
The average time lost in a match for goal-kicks in the Premier League is seven minutes and 42 seconds – or 30.4 seconds for each one. Last season, the average delay on goal-kicks was just under seven minutes.
The ball is, on average, out for 11 minutes and 20 seconds waiting for a player to take a throw-in – that’s 18 seconds each. To illustrate the impact of an increase in long throws, that average was 16.1 seconds last season, and 15.6 in 2023-24.
On a corner, we usually wait for five minutes and 58 seconds for the ball to be back in play – representing 36.4 seconds each one. On free-kicks, it’s a total 13 minutes and 25 seconds on average.
In total, that’s more than 38 minutes being taken out of the game.
The time lost on goal-kicks is particularly remarkable – and Burnley feature in the three Premier League matches this season most affected.
It is worth noting that some of this time could be influenced by injury stoppages, but when the Clarets visited Manchester United in August, 13 minutes and 40 seconds were lost to 22 goal-kicks.
Scott Parker’s side were responsible for 11 minutes and 18 seconds of that – that’s 36.66 seconds per goal-kick, when the average is 30.4.
Against Liverpool in September, Burnley took a shade over 12 minutes on 21 goal-kicks (34.57 seconds each on average), and when they played Sunderland in August the total lost in the match was 12 minutes and 45 seconds.
The total delays for throw-ins are much higher, because there are more throw-ins than goal-kicks in matches.
One concern about switching to two 30-minute halves is the footprint of a match would theoretically have no fixed end point.
But is that really the case?
We’ll use the average time of a game in the Premier League – 100 minutes and 46 seconds – as our base point for comparison.
With a 60-minute clock that stopped as the ball went out and restarted when it came back in, a match featuring the average time lost to corners, goal-kicks and throw-ins would last 98 minutes and 35 seconds.
Add on the average time taken for free-kicks, and we wouldn’t be too far over that 100 minutes and 46 seconds. So, on those numbers, the game’s footprint would not be too much longer than it is now.
But that’s the average game, of course. If we return to the earlier example of Slavia Prague v Arsenal, that would have taken more than two hours to complete.
That uncertainty over the length of matches – especially those played in the evening – isn’t good for fans.
Equally, we can’t predict how player behaviour would change. With no direct benefit from time-wasting, would we still see such extremes as in that European tie in Prague? Or would it actually get worse, as a quick restart makes no difference?
Perhaps the biggest issue for supporters at the matches – at least as things stand – would be knowing how long had been played.
Many grounds only have one stadium clock that isn’t visible from all stands – and as you go down the divisions, they are in even shorter supply.
Right now, fans at least have a rough idea of the time that has elapsed in a game, and get stoppage time from the boards raised at 45 and 90 minues. Without a visible match clock, it would be much harder to know how long is remaining.
Captain Ben Stokes says England will go “balls to the wall” in their only Ashes warm-up game after “has-beens” questioned their limited preparation in Australia.
England will play a three-day game against an England Lions team starting on Thursday at a park ground in Perth. The first Test at Optus Stadium begins on 21 November.
The build-up to this tour is similar to England’s preparations for their five previous overseas tours under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. England have won the first Test of the series on each occasion.
However, it differs from many of England’s previous Ashes tours, when they played several warm-up games.
“The next three days is balls to the wall for everyone – no easing into it,” Stokes told BBC Sport.
Speaking to the media for the first time since sustaining a shoulder injury in July, Stokes covered a range of subjects, including:
England held a limited training session at Lilac Hill on Wednesday. The batters and spin bowlers were in attendance, but the pace bowlers sat out after an intense workout on Tuesday.
The tourists have not confirmed the teams for the warm-up game. All 16 members of the senior Ashes party will be involved, with the five not in the England XI joining the Lions.
In a packed schedule, England have just finished a white-ball series in New Zealand.
Even if they had arranged a string of first-class matches in Australia, their opposition probably would not have been strong, given the ongoing domestic Sheffield Shield competition.
Criticism of the build-up has come from past players on both sides of the Ashes divide.
“Cricket has changed so much,” said Stokes. “Preparation is nowhere near as simple as it used to be. You could come out on a tour two months before the first game started.
“We’ve been preparing for this tour not over the last three weeks, but putting a lot of thought and process into this for a few years now. I don’t know what else we’re expected to be able to do.
“There are quite a few factors that go into why we can’t prepare how the has-beens maybe prepared in the past. It’s all changed. We’re very comfortable with how we prepare because we leave no stone unturned.”
Stokes, 34, has not played since being ruled out of the final Test against India in the summer.
He was superb in that series before sustaining the injury, which came after he put himself through a heavy bowling workload. Injuries have prevented Stokes from completing any of England’s past four Test series.
However, he has been bowling at full pace in training, which he said he has been doing for two months.
With Australia captain Pat Cummins missing the first Test because of a back injury, the eventual destination of the urn could be influenced by which skipper spends most time on the field, and Stokes said he is in a “good place” to get through the series.
“That’s all I’ve been doing for last three months; making sure I’m fit and strong,” he said.
On Tuesday, assistant coach Marcus Trescothick backed Pope at number three, which Stokes echoed by saying the Surrey man is “in possession”.
Stokes also explained the decision to replace Pope as vice-captain with England white-ball skipper Harry Brook.
“We have been very consistent with team selection and we know exactly what we want from the team we pick. Popey has done a great job for us at number three,” said Stokes.
“He did an amazing job as vice-captain. He was incredibly valuable to me. We did a lot of work together behind the scenes; he helped me through particular periods in games and our relationship grew. He got better and better, particularly when I was bowling.
“But it’s a natural progression in terms of Brooky’s leadership of England. He’s been one of those senior guys I go to, so it was the right time for Brooky to come in and be vice-captain.”
After a thrilling and controversial Ashes in 2023 was drawn 2-2, the upcoming contest is one of the most anticipated series in recent memory.
As part of the hype, the West Australian newspaper carried pictures of Stokes arriving at Perth on its front page and described him as “Captain Cocky Crybaby”.
Stokes said the coverage will not affect his team and he was “gutted” when the newspaper switched focus to team-mate Joe Root.
“It’s unbelievable journalism to get that much information on the front page out of a bloke pushing a suitcase through an airport, so fair play,” said Stokes.
“I was a bit gutted when they turned their attention over to Rooty, because I was waking up waiting to see what the next headline of me was.
“It’s expected. That’s part of being in Australia. It’s another one of those things that we’ll have to deal with, especially some of the guys that are out here for the first time.
The Ashes: Australia v England
Kelly Osbourne has revealed she’s received vile abuse from online trolls about her late dad Ozzy, who passed away at the age of 76 earlier this year.
The grieving 41-year-old took to Instagram to share the horrible messages she had received from one particular fan called Ryan who lives in New Mexico. One branded the Black Sabbath legend “an untalented stupid useless little b**** who will never be missed”. Another cruelly said “it was a party” the day that Ozzy died on July 22.
He also spoke about getting his money back after attending an Ozzy concert calling it the “biggest waist [sic] of money”. Another vile message said: “I’m glad your dad was a thing. He was a picture perfect example of what not to be and a shining example of the expression. Piece of s***. May he rest in s***for all of eternity.”
A shocked Kelly reposted the messages to her Instagram stories and told her 4 million followers: “This man is insane. I will let you guys handle him! He obviously needs some attention.” She went on to post a shot of the troll’s social media profile as she wrote: “The internet is a wild place Ryan from Mexico.” She then shared the profile of the man’s wife-to-be, a woman called Meghan, and warned: “His future wife deserves to know what she is marrying!”
READ MORE: Jack Osbourne reveals biggest struggle after Ozzy’s death as he joins I’m A Celebrity
The Osbourne family, including Kelly, her mum Sharon, 73, sister Aimee, 42, and brother Jack, 40, are still coming to terms with the loss of Ozzy, who died 17 days after performing a farewell concert with his Black Sabbath bandmates in his beloved hometown of Birmingham called Back to the Beginning.
Other bands, such as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Slayer, also took to the stage for the benefit gig which is said to have earned millions for charity. While there were special performances from special guests like Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and Aerosmith frontman Steve Tyler.
In a sweet last moment with her father, Kelly got engaged backstage at the gig after her partner Sid Wilson, 48, of metal band Slipknot, popped the question in front of her parents. The couple, who were friends for years before they got together in early 2022, share a three-year-old son called Sidney.
Posting the heartwarming clip on social media, Kelly wrote: “Oh, and this happened yesterday.” In the video, mum Sharon is heard saying: “We’ve got to be quiet, hold on,” as she shushed the crew backstage at show. Kelly’s now fiancé is then heard saying: “Kelly, you know I love you more than anything in the world.”
But Sid’s romantic proposal was swiftly interrupted by a playful Ozzy who shouted: “F*** off! You’re not marrying my daughter.” Clearly familiar with Ozzy’s banter, Sid laughed and continued asking Kelly the all-important question.
He said: “Nothing would make me happier than spending the rest of my life with you. So, in front of your family and all of our friends, Kelly, will you marry me?”. Kelly then turns around with a look of shock on her face before nodding ‘yes’.
The video then sees Sid -who has known Kelly for more than 20 years – show the dazzling ring to Ozzy before one of Kelly’s friends yells ‘about time’. Kelly and Sid then shared a long embrace while their loved ones cheered them on in the background.
While Ozzy may not be with us anymore, fans are about to see more of another Osbourne as his son Jack enters the jungle when the new series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! kicks off this weekend. The dad-of-four opened up about the death of his rock icon dad before heading Down Under.
Posting a pic of himself in his jungle attire to Instagram, Jack wrote: “Hey folks! Well, I was told to keep this a secret but the cat’s out of the bag now.
“I’m headed into the jungle for a few weeks. Why you might ask? I guess I’m just a sucker for punishment hahaha. My team will be managing my social media while I’m away, so don’t worry, they will be keeping you all updated.”
The star said he had the backing of his family to appear on the show and that they would be tuning in back home. He said: “Mum and Kelly, yeah they are absolutely going to be watching. They are supportive.”
He admitted he will miss them terribly, alongside his wife and family, not least as he won’t be able to call them, adding: “It’s absolutely going to be hard leaving them behind. I have got lots of kids, my wife, and my family still in the wake of my dad passing. It is going to be difficult, that is for sure.
“It’s not the longest amount of time I’ve been away from them. I’ve gone on different trips filming [TV show] Adrenaline Junkie for nearly two months without a phone, but I still had access to one and I was able to make calls home. It’s going to be very difficult not speaking to my wife and kids. But yes, I do hope I can make my family proud.”
England defender Reece James is hoping Fifa will consider moving kick-off times for next year’s World Cup to help players deal with potentially stifling summer temperatures.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are co-hosting the tournament, which starts 11 June, but concerns have been raised over the extreme heat conditions teams will likely face.
James, 25, captained Chelsea to victory in the Club World Cup this summer in the US but the competition faced criticism because of the severe conditions, with the defender’s team-mate Enzo Fernandez saying he felt “dizzy” while playing in “very dangerous” heat.
Research led by Queen’s University Belfast found the temperatures at 14 of the 16 stadiums being used for the 2026 World Cup could exceed potentially dangerous levels during the tournament.
Philadelphia, which is one of the US cities hosting matches, was under a severe heat warning during one of Chelsea’s training sessions this summer when temperatures reached 37C but because of the 45% humidity conditions felt more like 45C.
England, who have qualified for the tournament with two games to spare, would benefit from later kick-offs when temperatures have cooled, according to manager Thomas Tuchel.
“For sure, that would definitely help,” said James, “later kick-offs when it’s not so hot and humid. That would definitely help.”
England are planning a warm-weather training camp in Florida to help acclimatise for the tournament and will also build a “heat-proof” game plan, said assistant Anthony Barry.
Asked if football’s world governing body has contacted him for feedback after the Club World Cup, James added: “No, I haven’t been asked about my thoughts on kick-off times.
Fifa is likely to schedule World Cup matches involving major European nations after midnight UK time in an effort to combat heat issues.
It is anticipated these kick-off times will mirror those at the Club World Cup, when the earliest games started at 17:00 BST, followed by 20:00, 23:00 and 02:00.
“You feel the heat the minute you step outside the hotel. The conditions are super hot,” James continued.
“Once you are out there you adapt the longer you are there, when you are settled in once place and try to limit the things you can.
“The pitches when we were there weren’t the greatest either and made it a little bit harder but hopefully by the time the World Cup comes around hopefully it’s better.”