England took a 40-run first-innings lead after dismissing Australia for 132 early on the second morning of the Ashes cricket series Saturday. Test newcomer Brendan Doggett and Nathan Lyon faced some torrid pace bowling from Mark Wood,

Veteran quick Mitchell Starc was in devastating form, taking a career-best 7-58. But by the close, Ben Stokes was bouncing through Australian batters — and then the celebrations of his England team-mates — to bag 5-23 himself to ensure the visitors sleep well ahead of tomorrow’s second day, when Australia will resume on 123 for nine.

For the first time in a generation, England finally have the pace bowling to truly worry Australia down under, writes Stephan Shemilt.

Argentina have made five changes to face England. Prop Thomas Gallo, flanker Marcos Kremer, fly-half Tomas Albornoz, wing Bautista Delguy and centre Justo Piccardo are the new faces compared to the starting XV that edged Scotland 33-24 at Murrayfield last weekend.

England was the first European team to confirm its presence at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

If South Africa received a first-half red card against Ireland in Dublin this Saturday, could it win? The Springboks have been incredibly resilient to soak up first-half reds and still beat France 32-17 in Paris and Italy 32-14 in Turin over the last two weekends.

Hit them with pace. It was England’s master plan for three years and it delivered in blood-curdling style, causing a jitteriness in Australian batsmen not seen for decades in an Ashes Test.

Technically, they have been all in since the start of the 2024 summer, when Rob Key - and we're paraphrasing here - said relying on traditional English seamers was hot trash in overseas conditions, and change needed to come quick. That change was forcing James Anderson into retirement. But even the axing of a great only confirmed the concept.