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- England appoint Joe Root as Test captain and Stephen Fleming as coach
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Get you up to speed: England appoint Root and Fleming as Test cricket captain and coach
England has appointed Joe Root as Test cricket captain and Stephen Fleming as head coach following the departures of Ben Stokes and Brendan McCullum. Root, who previously captained the team from 2017 to 2022, will lead the squad in a three-Test home series against Pakistan beginning on 19 August 2026.
Joe Root will lead England in a three-Test home series against Pakistan starting on 19 August 2026. Stephen Fleming will commence his role as head coach after the series, with Marcus Trescothick serving as interim coach during that period.
Joe Root expressed his gratitude for being appointed England men’s Test captain again, stating, “It is a great honour and privilege.” Stephen Fleming, who will assume his role after the Pakistan series, remarked, “I’m incredibly excited to be joining England as Test Coach,” signalling a new direction for a team aiming to rebuild after recent challenges.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how the team will adapt to Fleming’s coaching style during the transition period before he officially takes charge.
England appoint Joe Root as Test captain and Stephen Fleming as coach
Sport|CricketEngland appoint Root and Fleming as Test cricket captain and coach
England confirm Joe Root to return as Test captain, while Stephen Fleming replaces Brendan McCullum as coach.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
England named Joe Root as Test captain and appointed former New Zealand batter Stephen Fleming as head coach following the departures of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Root, England’s all-time leading run scorer in Tests, captained the side in a record 64 matches between 2017 and 2022, winning 27 of them.
The 35-year-old returns to the role after Stokes retired from international cricket last month and will lead England in the three-Test home series against Pakistan starting on August 19.
“It is a great honour and privilege to be asked to be England men’s test captain again,” Root said in a statement.
“The Test captaincy is a difficult but hugely rewarding job and, after enjoying a brief taste of it again working with Brendon McCullum last month, I am excited to lead this next generation of players forward.”
“The opportunity to do that alongside Stephen is also a huge motivator.
“He has proved over a long period of time that he is an exceptional leader with a great knowledge of the game, and I am looking forward to working with him and helping to build a winning environment.”
Root led England in the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval this summer in Stokes’ absence.
Stephen Fleming was head coach of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL before taking the England job [File: Abhijit Addya/Reuters]
Fleming takes charge of an England side looking to rebuild after poor results and a series of off-field incidents that led to McCullum’s dismissal.
New Zealander McCullum remains coach of England’s white-ball teams.
Fleming had been head coach of Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League prior to the England job.
“I’m incredibly excited to be joining England as Test Coach. It’s one of the most prestigious coaching positions in world cricket and I am honoured to be appointed,” 53-year-old Fleming said in a statement.
“I’m particularly looking forward to working with Joe Root as captain – a generational talent who has achieved so much already.
“There is still plenty more to come from him, and I’m excited to support him so he can enjoy and thrive in the role in what is a different context to his first stint.”
Fleming, who played 111 Tests for New Zealand and captained the team, will start as coach after the test series against Pakistan, with assistant coach Marcus Trescothick leading the side on an interim basis until then.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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