Cricket world cup 2019
Australia aim to pour cold water on England's summer
Battle commences at Edgbaston on Thursday and the last time Australia won there was the opening match of the 2001 series which they ended up dominating 4-1.
This week's Ashes opener at Edgbaston will be the first Test to count towards a new points table in the format, with 72 matches between the top nine nations taking place over a two-year period before a grand final in 2021.
In their first test match in a summer dominated by the one-day World Cup, England could not even muster three figures against a nation playing its third test match ever.
Gary Stead shrugged off suggestions England had been mistakenly handed an extra run after a throw from a fielder hit the bat of a diving Ben Stokes' and deflected to the boundary in the final over of regular play.
Cricket matches, real cricket matches, aren’t supposed to be like this, says Daniel Gallan. They’re not supposed to be this grandiose, this sensational, this hyperbolic.
A freak fielding deflection off Ben Stokes' bat that raced to the boundary saw the team awarded six runs with three balls to go in the final over on Sunday.
The Black Caps lost even though scores were tied at the end of both regular play and a Super Over shootout, with England's superior boundary count giving them victory.
There have long been concerns about declining player numbers in English cricket, with the sport hidden behind a television paywall in Britain since England's iconic 2005 Ashes series triumph.
All-rounder Ben Stokes's heroics came three years after he was hit for four straight sixes by Carlos Brathwaite in the last over of West Indies' stunning World Twenty20 final win over England in India.
England have beaten New Zealand by a single run to win the Cricket World Cup 2019 in a nail-biting final.
Celebrated All Blacks mentor Steve Hansen believes New Zealand's loss to England in the group stages of the Cricket World Cup will be to their advantage in Sunday's final.
England trounced Australia by eight wickets to seal their spot in the final, where they will be looking to clinch their first global 50-over title.
De Villiers was responding to earlier reports that he had made himself available for selection just 24 hours before the Proteas squad for the tournament was announced.
The England captain's side will face New Zealand at Lord's on Sunday, with both sides bidding to win the title for the first time.
That gave the left-arm quick his 27th wicket of the 2019 tournament, breaking the record of 26 for a single edition he had previously shared with retired Australia paceman Glenn McGrath.
The winners of the match in Birmingham will face New Zealand, who shocked mighty India at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
The unexpected defeat to New Zealand in Wednesday's semifinal came after a top-order batting collapse had left them teetering at 24-4.
Trent Boult gathers and delivers in a fluid motion, releasing gorgeous swingers and spitting seamers that belie the tranquility that came before.
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson won the toss under clouds and batted first because that is what conventional wisdom dictated.