The trophy, made from wood sourced from a bat from each player, in collaboration with NZC, ECB and the families of each player, will be unveiled on Thursday morning in Christchurch ahead of the start of the three-match series. The trophy was designed by David Ngawati of Mahu Creative, who also designed the Tangiwai Shield for New Zealand’s Test series with South Africa.
Both Crowe and Thorpe enjoyed hugely successful Test careers. Crowe, regarded as New Zealand’s finest batter, averaged 45.36 with 17 centuries. Thorpe, who tragically passed in August, averaged 44.66 with 16 hundreds.
Crowe and Thorpe went on to become mentors for latter generations, including members of both squad who will compete for this three-match series.
“It’s a side that he had a lot of success against, a brilliant double hundred. He told us many times about that innings here in Christchurch [an unbeaten 200 in 2002], normally over a glass of sauvignon blanc.
“It’s a really fitting way to remember two of England and New Zealand’s great players. How both sides play represents how they played the game pretty well. I expect a really exciting series, like the previous one was. It will be a really fitting way to remember two brilliant players.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, NZC CEO Scott Weenink added: “Today’s generation of players are standing on the shoulders of those who went before them, players like Graham and Martin. It’s good that we recognise this and respect their legacy. Both those players were seriously good batsmen who understood the game intimately – they commanded respect wherever they went.”
ECB chief executive Richard Gould said: “Martin and Graham are two legends of the game, and it is fitting that Test series between our two men’s sides will now be contested in their name.
“It’s heart-breaking to have lost both men so early, but by honouring them in this way I hope we can help ensure the memories and legacies of two of our nations’ finest cricketers live on long into the future.”
The Crowe-Thorpe Trophy will be unveiled by Deb Crowe (Martin’s sister) and former England Test captain Michael Atherton at the Hagley Oval ahead on the national anthems on Thursday.
Labuschagne has come under intense scrutiny following the defeat given his recent form in Test cricket. He has averaged just 13.66 across his last 10 Test innings, which does include a nine-month gap where he played county cricket, Sheffield Shield cricket and ODI cricket. His scores across those innings read: 10, 1*, 3, 5, 1, 2, 90, 6, 2, and 3.
In the second innings, it was Bumrah who trapped him, as he tried to shoulder arms to an inswinger that was smashing off stump late in the day.
While India will play a two-day pink-ball game in Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI next weekend, Australia’s players will fly home and train on their own for the remainder of this week. They will not play any club cricket in their home states, as is the norm, but they have decided to head to Adelaide a day earlier than originally planned.
“Marn along with quite a few guys in the team didn’t have the week we would have wanted,” Cummins said after the loss inside four days. “It’s no secret how hard the batters, particularly Marn works in the nets. He’s always trying to find those small marginal gains. This week will be a lot of conversation with the coaches around his approach and what he could be doing differently.
“We know he’s a class player, him at his best is one of the scariest propositions for opposition bowlers to bowl at. We’ll get to Adelaide a little bit earlier and maybe do an extra day or two prep leading into that second Test. He’s done it before over there, he’s got a very good pink-ball record, so I always think looking back at past successes when you were at your best is always a pretty good way to get yourself back on track.
“This is a sample size of one. Four or five days ago we thought this was our best XI. So I dare say there won’t be many changes going into Adelaide, but I’m not a selector. I’m sure they’ll get together after the game. We’ve got a bit of work to do over the next 10 days.”
It could lead to a remarkable scenario in Adelaide, where the victors in Perth make more changes than the side that was thumped. India will welcome back skipper Rohit Sharma from paternity leave while Shubman Gill will also be pushing to be fit. Australia could back in the same XI despite the margin of the defeat.
You sit in the changeroom after a loss like that, and it hurts When a team declares on you, it’s never an amazing feeling. We’ve all been in these situations before
Pat Cummins
But while Marsh looked in good touch with the bat, his physical conditioning is a major concern with the ball. He has pulled up sore after bowling just 17 overs, the most he has bowled in any game of cricket over the last three years. He sent down an excellent spell on day one but his overs on day two and three were laboured and put pressure back on Australia’s fast bowlers to carry the load. He is set to be monitored over the next 10 days.
“He’s battling a couple of little niggles since the UK tour,” Cummins said. “The main thing is he’s in there as one of the top six batters in the country and bowling is a bonus. He was a little bit sore towards the end of this Test match. Again, in the next 10 days, a chance to freshen up and try and get it right. We’ll see how he goes. Ideally, he would be able to bowl in each Test match.”
Cummins was typically pragmatic after just the second home loss of his captaincy career, albeit coming in consecutive matches after the narrow eight-run defeat by West Indies in Brisbane. But he was aware that there would be a lot of introspection leading into Adelaide to try and find a way back into the series.
“You sit in the changeroom after a loss like that, and it hurts,” Cummins said. “When a team declares on you, it’s never an amazing feeling. We’ve all been in these situations before. It’s the nature of professional sport, you’re going to lose some games.
“The most important thing is how do you bounce back? What’s your next move? That’s what we’ve got to do this week. Clearly we were well off the mark. There’s a lot to work on. The most important thing is there’s four Test matches to come.”
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
The selection of the Bethell in a position of such responsibility is a reflection of the selectors’ regard for his talent. He made his T20I and ODI debuts against Australia at the end of the home summer, and impressed out in the Caribbean with three half-centuries across both formats on that white ball tour. He subsequently earned his maiden IPL gig with a £245,000 deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday.
Nevertheless, the 21-year-old remains an unknown quantity in first-class cricket. He averages 25.44 from 30 innings, with just five half-centuries, none of which have come higher than No. 5. A career-best score of 93 came against Nottinghamshire in April. He will be come the first specialist batter to play Test cricket for England without a first-class century since Mike Gatting in 1978.
Bethell only arrived in New Zealand on Sunday after time off at home following the West Indies series. As a result, he did not play any part in the two-day tour match against the New Zealand Prime Minister’s XI.
In a year of left-field selections from England, this might rank as one on the outer reaches of that spectrum. Particularly given Root, with his wealth of experience, could have performed the role. While Ben Stokes has been keen to allow England’s leading Test run-scorer the comfort of batting No. 4 throughout his tenure as captain, it is worth noting Root’s 262 against Pakistan last month came at three.
Despite a green seamer expected at Hagley Oval, England have chosen to persist with Shoaib Bashir as their spinner, with Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse the out-and-out seamers, and Stokes as the all-round option.
England XI for first Test: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ollie Pope (wk), 7 Ben Stokes (capt), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Brydon Carse, 11 Shoaib Bashir
Bangladesh 269 for 9 dec and 109 for 7 (Mehidy 45, Litton 22, Roach 3-20, Seales 3-31) need another 225 runs to beat West Indies 450 for 9 dec and 152 (Athanaze 42, Brathwaite 23, Taskin 6-64, Mehidy 2-31)
Bangladesh’s batters, however, couldn’t repay their bowlers. Both their openers got out similarly to how they were dismissed in the first innings. Zakir Hasan inside-edged Roach on to his stumps, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy edged Seales to third slip. Roach then set Shahadat Hossain up in the 11th over, getting the ball to seam away several times before bowling a booming inswinger. The ball kissed Shahadat’s gloves as he tried to get out of the way, before Joshua Da Silva took the inside edge.
Shamar Joseph then saw two dropped catches in his first over, both of Mominul Haque. Da Silva dropped a chance down the leg side, before Mikyle Louis couldn’t hold on to a straightforward one at gully. Mominul, however, couldn’t last long, as Roach took a superb caught and bowled from his drive in the next over.
But Shamar’s bad luck continued at the other end. Alick Athanaze dropped Mehidy Hasan Miraz at second slip, with the Bangladesh captain on 14. Litton Das cut one uppishly, only for Seales to get a hand on it at backward point. Shamar’s exasperation at having four catches dropped off his bowling, however, didn’t last too long. He had Litton caught at fine leg for 22 to reduce Bangladesh to 59 for 5 in the 18th over.
Mehidy was the only one fighting for Bangladesh, riding out the short-ball barrage, and keeping the scoreboard moving. He made 45 off 46 balls with five fours and a six, before Seales got him caught behind, as Da Silva took a fine catch. Seales then clean bowled Taijul Islam as well.
West Indies’ morning had started with good fortune despite the declaration surprise. Shahadat, at first slip, dropped captain Kraigg Brathwaite on 9. Next ball, Taskin slammed an inswinger into Louis’ front pad, but umpire Kumar Dharmasena said not out. Replays showed that the batter was plumb in front, but Bangladesh hadn’t taken the review.
Taskin, however, removed Louis in his next over when the opener was caught behind for 8. Taskin then had Keacy Carty caught at third slip, a further reward of his excellent line and length in his first spell. Brathwaite then guided Shoriful Islam to second slip in the following over, as the visitors’ decision to declare got an early vindication.
Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze nearly got West Indies out of trouble. The pair struck eight fours either side of the lunch break, but just when they added 50 for the fourth wicket, Bangladesh struck three times in as many overs. Taskin’s beautiful delivery that nipped slightly away had Hodge caught behind for 15. It was also Litton Das’ 100th catch in Tests.
Mehidy then removed Athanaze in the following over. He made 42 off 63 balls, with seven fours, but the young left-hander played a superfluous shot, struck on the back foot while trying to cut a ball that was spinning into him. Then Taskin clipped Justin Greaves’ off stump with another fantastic delivery, as the first-innings centurion made just 2 in the second.
Alzarri Joseph immediately counterattacked against Taskin, and this time there were no verbal exchanges between the two. Da Silva followed suit by getting two fours off Taskin’s next over. He struck Taijul for a straight six, but then the left-arm spinner got one to get big on Da Silva, who gave a catch to point.
Alzarri then holed out to short fine leg after top edging Mehidy. He had earlier survived a similar top edge, but Mominul had dropped a relatively difficult chance. Mominul had earlier also dropped Carty at short cover.
It was, however, all forgotten when Taskin yorked Shamar to complete his first five-for. He finished up the West Indies innings when Mehidy took a brilliant diving catch at mid-off, after Roach was deceived by a Taskin’s slower ball.
But Bangladesh’s batters couldn’t be inspired by their bowlers, as they crumbled on the fourth day.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
But he did more than just hit those six sixes for South Delhi Superstarz at the inaugural Delhi Premier League in August this year. He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 608 runs in ten innings opening the batting for his team.
In the very first match of the Delhi Premier League, against Old Delhi 6, Arya hit 57 runs in 30 balls, and followed it up with 82 in 51 balls against Central Delhi Kings, hitting seven sixes. The carnage continued. Against East Delhi Strikers, he scored 53 in 32 balls, against Old Delhi 6, he hit 107 runs in 55 balls, and against Central Delhi he again scored 88 in 42 balls.
Overall, his 608 runs came at a strike rate of 198.69 and an average of 67.56. He his 43 sixes in those ten innings.
Arya’s parents are teachers in a government school in Delhi, and he trains under Sanjay Bhardwaj, Gautam Gambhir’s former coach.
“When I was young, I used to watch Gautam Gambhir sir bat in the nets,” Arya told ESPNcricinfo during the Delhi Premier League. “When I grew up a little, I started talking to him. Apart from this, Ayush Badoni [of Lucknow Super Giants] is my good friend. He is also our captain in the Delhi Premier League and he has IPL experience also. So I interact with him a lot on and off the pitch and his experience is very useful to me.”
DC first bid for Arya when he was introduced at his base price of INR 30 lakh on the second day of the auction in Jeddah. PBKS got involved. The price gradually reached INR 1 crore. RCB got involved around then. The price rose, till PBKS, who had more money to spare at that point, got their man at INR 3.80 crore.
Sams represented Essex for the past three seasons, finishing as the Blast MVP in 2023 after helping them to a runners-up finish. He has also played in the Hundred for Trent Rockets, picking up a winner’s medal in 2022.
“It was a priority for us to bring in an experienced overseas player who can contribute with bat and ball,” Nottinghamshire head coach, Peter Moores, said. “Dan is the perfect player in that respect – he has a unique skill set to that which we’ve already got in our squad, and he’ll be a great support to Joe Clarke as captain.
“He’s got the added bonus of having played T20 cricket in England and knowing what it asks of you, as well as handling the pressure of franchise cricket around the world.
“We’re excited for what he’ll bring to the group both on and off the field; our expectations as a club are high in this format of the game, and we want to get back to the standards we have set ourselves. Adding Dan to the group is a great start in building a team that will entertain our supporters and win us games in the season ahead.”
Nottinghamshire won their second Blast title in 2020, but have not been past the quarter-finals stage since and finished bottom of the North Group in 2024.
“I really enjoyed my time at Trent Bridge for the Hundred, so it’s really cool I’ll be returning for the Blast with Notts,” Sams said. “My experiences playing at Trent Bridge have always been exceptional – the home supporters are passionate and I’m excited to play in front of them.
“The Blast itself is a competition I’ve come to love and I’m relishing the chance to test myself in the North Group in 2025. I look forward to joining up with my new team-mates when the summer gets into full swing.”
Shami, who is playing his first white-ball tournament after last year’s ODI World Cup, took 3 for 21 in 3.3 overs as Bengal bowled out Hyderabad for 137 in 18.3 overs.
He received good support from Karan Lal and Shahbaz Ahmed who bagged two wickets apiece.
India batter Tilak Varma made a 44-ball 57 but he could not guide his side to a bigger total.
In reply, Bengal faced little trouble in scaling down the target in 17.5 overs.
Openers Abhishek Porel (41) and Karan (46) made 84 runs in 9.5 overs and Bengal never let the momentum slip from there.
Former India legspinner Piyush Chawla took 4 for 12, while pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who on Monday was bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru for INR 10.75 crore in the IPL mega auction, chipped in with wicket.
Bids for Suryavanshi started at his base price of INR 30 lakh and RR and Delhi Capitals (DC) were soon involved in the bidding battle, which eventually went RR’s way.
Suryavanshi, who hails from Samastipur, a city about 100 kilometres north-east from Patna, has featured in five Ranji Trophy games since his first-class debut against Mumbai earlier this year and is currently playing T20s in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Bihar. He recently made his T20 debut against Rajasthan, on November 23.
The highlight of his career so far is the century against Australia U-19, which came off just 58 balls, before he fell for 104. That knock made Suryavanshi the youngest player – at 13 years and 187 days – to score a century in youth cricket, breaking the previous record of 14 years and 241 days held by Bangladesh’s current captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.
Suryavanshi also has a triple-century to his name – an unbeaten 332 – in an U-19 tournament in Bihar, the Randhir Verma Tournament. He idolises Brian Lara and consults former India opener Wasim Jaffer about his game from time to time – they had first met during an U-19 white-ball tournament in Bangladesh in November 2023.
His formal coach, though, is his father Sanjeev Suryavanshi. Sanjeev was a cricketer, too, but when he couldn’t make it to the higher levels, he turned to coaching, and began working with Vaibhav once he showed an interest in playing the game seriously.
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