The Buzz
England's 'cocky captain complainer', and other Ashes banter
ESPNcricinfo staff
07-Nov-2025
Could there be an Ashes series where we say: "There isn't a lot of hype this time around"? Well, we can't say it for the 2025-26 one down under, which is building up predictably, with banter and back-and-forths fired off one after the other.
Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler enjoyed reading a headline and story from the Australian newspaper on England captain Ben Stokes arriving in Australia.
"... Ben Stokes, the king of England's self-proclaimed reinvention of cricket," Broad read out.
Full postWho's got matching World Cup tattoos?
ESPNcricinfo staff
07-Nov-2025
How do you immortalise one of the most significant days of your life and career? Pictures and video are all very well, but when it's this big, you wear it on your sleeve, literally. Post their historic first Women's ODI World Cup win, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice captain Smriti Mandhana got tattoos of the trophy. Harmanpreet got it on her bicep.
See if you can spot where Mandhana got hers in this video of the team on their way to meet the prime minister.
Full postBehind the scenes of India's Women's World Cup win
ESPNcricinfo staff
03-Nov-2025
On Sunday night, 39,555 people at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and millions more across the world watched India women lift their very first ODI World Cup trophy. It was an electric night on the field, the joy, the shock for India, the disappointment for South Africa all splashed across television screens for all to see, but there was even more raw emotion behind the scenes.
An ecstatic India dugout saw the full spectrum of emotions wash over them in the immediate aftermath of the win - an emotional Amol Muzumdar, the head coach, sobbing into bowling coach Avishkaar Salvi's shoulders, an injured Pratika Rawal being wheeled out to join in the team celebrations and managing a wheelchair dance, a shell-shocked Harmanpreet Kaur trying to process the win while congratulating her team-mates... it was a sports movie in the making.
Full postWhat have been England's favourite meals of the World Cup?
ESPNcricinfo staff
29-Oct-2025
After over a month of touring India and Sri Lanka for the World Cup, England are gearing up to meet South Africa in the semi-final in Guwahati. What's been their favourite meal of the tour so far?
For batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge, it's well done chicken tikka with lots of chill, a side of steamed vegetables, garlic butter naan and some rice.
Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt enjoys a spot of paneer curry, although that just leaves us wondering - is it butter paneer or palak? Or maybe kadhai?
Full postWhat's Annabel Sutherland eating as she tops the Women's World Cup wickets table?
ESPNcricinfo staff
24-Oct-2025
Australia allrounder Annabel Sutherland is having a terrific World Cup. Five matches in and she's already the tournament's leading wicket-taker, with 15 at an average of 12.13. And in Australia's last game, she scored 98 not out. How is she doing it all?
Well, some carbs are helping. While fielding against New Zealand, Sutherland got sandwiches and bananas delivered to her on the field. "I like my toasties," Sutherland said after the game. "Some naan with honey too. I had that in the fielding innings - that goes down a treat."
Full postMitchell Starc and Travis Head quiz each other on their ODI careers
ESPNcricinfo staff
20-Oct-2025
How well do Mitchell Starc and Travis Head know each other's ODI careers? They give it a good go.
Who did Starc bowl to in the first over of the 2015 World Cup final?
Head guesses that memorable over right away: Brendon McCullum was beaten off the first two balls he faced (after Martin Guptill faced two himself) and was bowled by a beautiful inswinger off his third ball for a duck.
Then it's Head's turn: Who did I catch in the 2023 ODI World Cup final?
Full postFormer selectors 'surprised' that Jalaj Saxena has never played for India
ESPNcricinfo staff
15-Oct-2025
Few moments in cricket commentary have landed with such awkward irony as the one that played out on Wednesday during Maharashtra's Ranji Trophy game against Kerala.
When Jalaj Saxena walked in to bat, the two commentators in the box were Salil Ankola and Chetan Sharma - both former India players, and more tellingly, both former national selectors.
Ankola mused on air that it was "very surprising" that Saxena had never played for India. Chetan, quick to respond, added with a laugh, "Salil, you used one word 'very surprising', but let me tell you, we were both former selectors." Ankola responded to Chetan, "And you were the chairman!" Chetan finished the conversation by saying, "Fingers must've been raised at us as well."
Full postWhen Alyssa Healy sleepwalked after watching a scary movie
ESPNcricinfo staff
15-Oct-2025
We've all tried watching a scary movie as kids… and then had nightmares about it for months or years. It was a bit more extreme for Australia captain Alyssa Healy after she convinced her babysitter (was it her grandma?) to let her watch the shark-themed sci-fi horror film Deep Blue Sea on television.
"Guess who sleepwalked out of the window and down the street to a friend's house," Healy narrates during a video in which Australia's World Cup players are asked to name their favourite movies as kids.
Healy does pick other age-appropriate movies as her favourites growing up, Finding Nemo and Home Alone, although she seems to have also watched the not-so-child-friendly Anchorman.
Full postGautam Gambhir: 'West Indian cricket doesn't need world cricket. World cricket needs West Indian cricket'
ESPNcricinfo staff
15-Oct-2025
India beat West Indies 2-0 in the recently concluded Test series, but West Indies showed plenty of fight in the otherwise lopsided face-off. In Delhi, their tenth-wicket partnership added 79 after they were asked to follow on. India still went on to win by seven wickets, but the home side's coach, Gautam Gambhir, was appreciative of West Indies' mettle on the field as well as humility off it.
Invited by West Indies coach Daren Sammy to speak to his players in their dressing room at the end of the series, Gambhir applauded them for being "great role models".
"It's a great learning the way you guys carry yourself off the field, your humility, your humbleness is something which my team and a lot of teams across the globe has to learn from."
Full postEden Carson's rural reset
ESPNcricinfo staff
14-Oct-2025
Eden Carson may be playing at the highest level for New Zealand but when she goes back home to her family's farm, she's just a farmhand again. Before the 2025 Women's World Cup, Carson was hoping to kick back at home for a couple of weeks before heading to the subcontinent, but having landed in the thick of calving and lambing season, her father quickly put her to work on the farm.
"I wanted to go home for a rest, but my father was like 'Oh you've got to get up at 7.00 and help me with the calves'. I was like, 'Oh my days'." she says rolling her eyes. But despite the hard work, and braving the -5-degree temps, Carson says it was a "lovely time of father-daughter bonding."
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