Ben Housam The first round of Specsavers County Championship fixtures start on Sunday, with three matches in Division One and three in Division Two. Here, ecb.co.uk looks ahead to some of the key battles. Mark Wood (Durham) v Chris Rogers (Somerset) Mark Wood will be hoping to return from injury with a bang at the Emirates Riverside ground against Somerset. The fast bowler was one of England’s stars of an…

When it was offered that MS Dhoni, the India captain, had said R Ashwin had struggled with the dew, the offspinner flatly responded: “I don’t know what he said.” © IDI/Getty Images India offspinner R Ashwin has sought to put in perspective his performance in the World T20 semi-final against West Indies in Mumbai, and even made a thinly-veiled observation that he didn’t get the chance to bowl more despite…

When it was offered that MS Dhoni, the India captain, had said R Ashwin had struggled with the dew, the offspinner flatly responded: “I don’t know what he said.” © IDI/Getty Images India offspinner R Ashwin has sought to put in perspective his performance in the World T20 semi-final against West Indies in Mumbai, and even made a thinly-veiled observation that he didn’t get the chance to bowl more despite…

England fast bowler Stuart Broad went back to his roots to champion volunteers at the heart of local cricket clubs as part of a new initiative with winemaker Hardys.  Each month this summer, the Official Wine of England Cricket will work with The Cricketer magazine to profile those individuals who are the driving force – or heartbeat – of their local club and reward them for their unstinting work with a selection of…

Jos Buttler’s presence in the middle order may free up Rohit Sharma to open the innings © Getty Images Match facts Saturday, April 9, 2016Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT) Big picture There were 1, 676, 013 page views of an article on ESPNcricinfo titled “List of players sold and unsold in IPL 2016.” Even last year, with the World Cup in full swing and with no shortage of imaginative,…

“If there was a replay the day after I would do exactly the same. I won’t be shying away from it.” Battered, bruised but unbowed, Ben Stokes would have no hesitation in taking on the challenge of delivering death-bowling victories for England in the future. That is a measure of the all-rounder’s character, given the pain that courses through his veins after the final-over demolition handed out by Carlos Braithwaite in…

Birmingham Bears have signed New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi for all 14 NatWest T20 Blast group games in 2016. The 34-year-old has played 29 international games in the format, most recently the ICC World T20 semi-final against England, and also appeared in last year’s World Cup final. Ronchi said: “Birmingham Bears have been one of the top teams in T20 over the last two years and I’m very excited to…