Bell insists that time batting against the red ball is still fundamental to the modern player. He emphasizes the value of scoring runs in first-class cricket and how it sets you up, learning how to bat, how to build hundreds, and how to stay out there for multiple sessions.
In the city where a few handfuls of rupees were melted down to make the original Calcutta Cup, it was Scotland who lost their shape when the heat started to rise and the pressure to build. England won by five wickets and though it was, in the end, emphatic it was not exactly a rediscovery of peak form, even if Tom Banton appeared to have located his with a 41-ball 63 that powered his team to victory.
Ben Stokes has sustained a significant facial injury after being struck by a cricket ball. The England Test captain posted a picture on Instagram showing his right eye heavily swollen and bruised, a graze on his cheek and lip, and a bandage stuffed in his nose. He captioned the picture: You should see the state of the cricket ball. The 34-year-old is back in England after the dismal Ashes tour, which ended with a 4-1 defeat, with question marks still hanging over his position,