Today’s back pages: Bring on The Ashes

It’s the morning after the morning after the night before but still the exploits of the England cricket team are front and centre on most of the back pages.

As the dust slowly settles on Sunday’s mayhem at Lord’s, some papers reflect on the post-match celebrations and others look ahead to the forthcoming battle for The Ashes, which begins in just a couple of weeks.

But before that another Australian threat must be dealt with – former umpire Simon Taufel, who has claimed that the bizarre overthrow off Ben Stokes’ bat in the final over of the match should only have counted as five runs not six.

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He argued that the point at which the overthrows began was when the ball was thrown by New Zealand fielder Martin Guptill, rather than the moment it hit Stokes’ bat. But amid the debate one thing was clear – England were unconcerned.

England’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, said: “We are world champions; we have got the trophy and we intend to keep it.”

And New Zealand batsman Henry Nicholls refused the offer of sour grapes from across the Tasman. “It doesn’t mean anything to us now. It’s the game; things happen,” he told the BBC. “Sometimes you get the rub of the green.”

Meanwhile, England Test captain Joe Root has urged newly converted cricket fans to stick with the team during the Ashes series. Almost nine million tuned in to the drama on Sunday and there are hopes that many will keep following the team in the red-ball format.

“It will obviously be very different,” Root told the Daily Mirror. “But we’d love them to stay tuned in because it is always so special.”

But cricket’s back-page reign may be coming to a swift end, as the Daily Telegraph switches focus to The Open golf, which begins later this week.