Weekly CRICKET Review - CXV | Aussies retained the Ashes

damithudaya (78)modAtlas Ambassador - LKin Steem Sri Lanka • yesterday

Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,

You already know I share a weekly wrap-up of what's happening in the Cricket community. And it's the 115th edition now.

The World of Cricket has become very busy right now with a lot of bilateral series around, including the Ashes. So, let's see what's going on.

Leonardo AI

The Ashes, 2025-26

A few days back, I shared a nice little overview about this tournament. So, the 74th edition of the tournament is now in progress in Australia. There will be 5 Test matches from Nov 21 - Jan 08. Australia won the first three matches comfortably and retained the Ashes.
The third match was held at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide. Australia batted first, and they scored 371/10 with the help of three key performances. They lost wickets early, but Khawaja scored 82 runs, and it was Alex Carey who stepped up and scored a century. And from the tail, Starc scored yet another half-century. Jofra Archer took a fifer.

Once again, England's top order couldn't do much. They lost 8 wickets for just 168 runs. Stokes and Archer tried so hard and added 106 runs in 30 overs for the 9th wicket. Stokes scored 83 in 198 balls, and Archer scored 51 in 105 balls. England scored 286/10. In the second, Australia added another 349 runs. It was Head who became a headache, scoring 170 runs at the top. Carey once again added 72. So, the target was 435 for England. But they could only score 352 runs. Australia won by 82 runs.

Anyhow, England managed a win in the fourth match at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne. This is the second match of the series, which ended within two days. And it lasted just 852 days. No batter of any team could pass the 50+ runs mark. So, Australia batted first and scored 152/10 in 45 overs. Josh Tongue destroyed the inning with a fifer.

And as a reply, it was just 110/10 in 30 overs by England. Neser took 4 wickets. And once again, it's just 132/10 from Aussies in just 34 overs. So, England needed only 175 runs for a win. Duckett and Crawley got a good start, and eventhough they lost regular wickets, England held their nerve to chase the target with 4 wickets in hand.

South Africa tour of India, 2025

Another big tour of 5 T20s, 2 Tests, and 3 ODIs from Nov 14 - Dec 19. As I discussed last week, SA won the Test series, but India did well, winning the ODI series. As I discussed last week, in the T20 internationals, India won two out of the first three matches. And the fourth match was abandoned due to excessive fog.
The last one was held at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. India batted first and hammered 231/5. Samson and Abhishek scored 63 runs for the first wicket in the power play. Then Tilak Varma accelerated, scoring 73 runs, and Hardik Pandya finished it, adding 63 off 25 balls. SA got a really good start. Especially QDK was on fire, scoring 60+ runs in the powerplay, and with Dewald Brevis, they added 120/1 in the first 10 overs. But after their quick wickets, no one was there to continue. They could only score 201/8. India won by 30 runs. Hardik Pandya became the man of the series, as India won the series 3-1.

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West Indies tour of New Zealand, 2025

West Indies are in New Zealand for a big series of 5 T20s, 3 Tests, and 3 ODIs from Nov 05 - Dec 22. The T20I series was already over, with New Zealand winning it 3-1, and the Kiwis had whitewashed the West Indies in the ODI series. And the Kiwis did it in the Test series as well.
The third test was held at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, a batting paradise. Kiwis started batting, and Latham and Conway batted almost the first day. They added 323 runs for the first wicket, scoring 137 and 227 runs respectively. It was a long marathon, and from there, with a few contributions, the Kiwis declared the first inning with 575/8.

The first inning from WI was also comparatively good, scoring 420/10. Especially their top three were good, with a century from Kavem Hodge. Latham and Conway scored another two centuries, starting the second inning. They declared the innings for 306/2, giving a 461-run target. But it was just 138/10 from them. New Zealand won by 323 runs. Jacob Duffy destroyed the inning with a fifer, and he became the player of the series as well.