LAWRENCE BOOTH AT HEADINGLEY: The dressing-room kettle had not yet been switched on for tea on the third day of this first Test when England were celebrating a crushing victory.

Ben and Baz who? England got Joe Root's second captaincy era off to a flier with a walloping of Pakistan to quash any yearnings for Bazball. But who were the stars of the show and who flopped?

LAWRENCE BOOTH AT HEADINGLEY: The day after being confirmed as Test cricket's new No 1 batsman, Harry Brook celebrated his ascent with a blistering 91 off 93 balls as England dominated.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: More than 20 years since Aussie legend Steve Waugh last tormented England, his opinions still pack a punch, his judgments still sting.

A second cricketing etiquette storm has exploded at the Over-60 World Cup in Canada just weeks after Saltburn's 'Clicky Ponting' became international news.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: If Joe Root could have scripted the perfect start to his full-time return to the England captaincy, it might have looked something like this.

As they left the field shoulder to shoulder to the acclaim of the Leeds locals after Pakistan were dismissed for 171, they hatched a plan to share the leather sphere as a memento.

Root's first call was to ask Pakistan to bat at a venue unique for its dramatic mood swings. Look up not down, they say, when making such decisions.

RICHARD GIBSON: Imran Khan is to be moved from solitary confinement to hospital following repeated appeals from his family over his health.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: It's come to something when an England team who arrived in Australia in November with hopes of Ashes glory begin a home series against Pakistan with ridicule threatening.

The 25-year-old feared he might never get another chance at the highest level after breaking his thumb shortly before the first Test against New Zealand at Christchurch in November 2024.