England will have to make some tough decisions on the make-up of their bowling attack for the second Ashes Test at Lord's after Australia pulled off a tense two-wicket win in the series opener in Birmingham.
Captain Pat Cummins delivered with ball and bat to pull off one of the greatest wins in Ashes history. In the second innings, Cummins held fort until the end, scoring an unbeaten 44 to help chase down 281. He finished the game with 82 runs and four wickets.
As good as Cummins, and Usman Khawaja (141 and 65 in the match), were for the Aussies, Ben Stokes and England will be wondering how the match got away from them.
The hosts made a bold declaration on the opening day on 393-8 and even earned a first innings lead. In the final innings, they had Australia at 227-8 and all recognised batsmen dismissed.
The lack of serious firepower in their attack, on a relatively flat surface, came back to haunt them as Cummins and tail-ender Nathan Lyon saw the Aussies over the finish line.
At Edgbaston, veteran seamer James Anderson could only manage one wicket the entire match. Stuart Broad posed problems throughout the game, but he did not receive the kind of pressure required from the other end.
Returning off-spinner Moeen Ali damaged the skin on his bowling finger, hampering his effectiveness in the second innings, while Stokes kept running in on sheer willpower while managing his dodgy knee.
In case England persist with relatively flat wickets for the Ashes, they will need some more teeth in their bowling attack.
Fast bowler Mark Wood looks almost certain to play the second game, as he is the only one in the squad who can bowl at 150 kph. However, who does he come in for will be the million dollar question.
Former England batsman and batting coach Mark Ramprakash believes the home team need Wood in their attack.
“By and large, England will be happy they played the brand of cricket they wanted to,” Ramprakash told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“The only thing is, they have asked for quite flat wickets which are batter-friendly which can, to a degree, negate England's greatest bowler in Jimmy Anderson, who only took one wicket in the game.
“His form will perhaps be a bit of a concern going forward to Lord's and they will have to make a call on selection.
“It was a big thing for Moeen Ali to come back in but, with the amount of overs he bowled, he ripped the skin off his spinning finger and that impaired his performance in the second innings and that is something they will have to look at very closely.
“I expect Mark Wood to be seriously considered because England need some pace in their line-up.
“It is just injecting a bit of life. If Moeen is struggling, what variety do England have in their attack if the wicket is flat? I do expect Wood to come back in.”
The second Test begins next Wednesday.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mubadala World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
Tottenham's 10 biggest transfers (according to transfermarkt.com):
1). Moussa Sissokho - Newcastle United - £30 million (Dh143m): Flop
2). Roberto Soldado - Valencia - £25m: Flop
3). Erik Lamela - Roma - £25m: Jury still out
4). Son Heung-min - Bayer Leverkusen - £25m: Success
5). Darren Bent - Charlton Athletic - £21m: Flop
6). Vincent Janssen - AZ Alkmaar - £18m: Flop
7). David Bentley - Blackburn Rovers - £18m: Flop
8). Luka Modric - Dynamo Zagreb - £17m: Success
9). Paulinho - Corinthians - £16m: Flop
10). Mousa Dembele - Fulham - £16m: Success
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The%20specs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PRO BASH
Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
