Ben Gardner

The Brutal Truth Of England's Ashes Humbling? Australia Are Simply A Much Better Side Like Wittgenstein’s duck-rabbit optical illusion, the ODI portion of the 2025 Women’s Ashes can be viewed both ways.

The brutal truth of England's #Ashes humbling? Australia are simply a much better side - @benwisden.bsky.social

www.wisden.com/series/austr...

The Brutal Truth Of England's Ashes Humbling? Australia Are Simply A Much Better Side Like Wittgenstein’s duck-rabbit optical illusion, the ODI portion of the 2025 Women’s Ashes can be viewed both ways.

Yeah, fine margins, key moments etc. But also, six-nil, fuck off

www.wisden.com/series/austr...

It doesn’t really matter, but a weird thing about how over rate penalties work is that if England had bowled out New Zealand in 5.2 overs fewer in either innings, they wouldn’t have received any penalty at all. In the second, NZ’s last wicket batted for 12.5 overs. Fine margins

I make Jacob Bethell's 37-ball half-century the joint second fastest debut Test history ever. The one in first, and the other in joint second, both came for New Zealand against England

#NZvENG

Brydon Carse's Old-Ball Excellence Marks Him Out As Something Special | NZ v ENG 2024/25 | England Cricket News Brydon Carse’s all-round, high-pace excellence has pushed him to the top rung of England’s pace pecking order, writes Ben Gardner.

Brydon Carse. Old-ball wickets. Silly sixes. Properly good

www.wisden.com/series/new-z...

What if no one catches out Harry Brook ever again? Is there a plan in place for that?

If England's batters had got out the way New Zealand's have today, people would have things to say

Jasprit Bumrah is now averaging less than 20 with the ball in Tests. Only one other bowler in the history of Test cricket (SF Barnes) has taken 150 wickets at a sub-20 average

I think Louis' was more the result of having been in the 90s for ages, had had a couple of near misses not long before. And then Athanaze had been attacking to pretty good effect until that moment. Would maybe have been a touch early to shut up shop for the day as well

The wait for a Test hundred by a West Indies opener in an innings in which Kraigg Brathwaite didn't make a ton goes on. The most recent instance was Chris Gayle's 101 against Zimbabwe in March 2013

#WIvBAN

I can finally post this: Brad Hogg has a higher first-class batting average than Ben Stokes

8. November Mailbag Q & A, part 1 | Wisden Cricket Get more from Wisden Cricket on Patreon

This week's Patreon extra with @benwisden.bsky.social and @philwisden.bsky.social.

Abu Dhabi T10. Saving Test cricket. Reviving the ODI World Cup Super League. Scrapping bonus points. Warwickshire 's '04 title win. Craig White.

www.patreon.com/posts/8-nove...

'All I Ask, Did I Entertain?': What It Was Like Ghostwriting For Brian Lara | Phil Walker | Wisden Cricket Monthly Phil Walker, co-author of Brian Lara's autobiography, on the experience of being a ghostwriter, originally published in Wisden Cricket Monthly.

This went up the other day, might be worth a tinkle. My summer with Brian

www.wisden.com/cricket-news...

Follow Phil, obviously

Here we go then, my first bluey. Long may we reign. In keeping with the new kindness, here's a picture of our cat, Johnny.

I’ve found a really good* cricket stat, but I can only post it after this week’s Patreon ep goes live. So stick around

Podding tomorrow with Mark Butcher and @benwisden.bsky.social - any questions?!

🗣️ "Oh no... I've screwed this up here..." 😂😂

Blind ranking Test batters 👀