Today’s back pages: Australia captain Paine taunts England fans - let the Ashes battle commence

A round up of the sport headlines from UK newspapers on 1 August

England captain Joe Root and Australia skipper Tim Paine hold the urn ahead of the Ashes
England captain Joe Root and Australia skipper Tim Paine hold the urn ahead of the Ashes
(Image credit: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The Ashes cricket series dominates the newspaper back pages with the first Test match between England and Australia starting this morning.

Despite the Birmingham venue’s feared reputation Aussie captain Tim Paine has stoked the fires by claiming that Edgbaston is not in the top 15 most intimidating grounds in world cricket.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

He said: “England haven’t lost here in how long? I don’t even know, I haven’t looked at it and it doesn’t concern us.

“We think our best cricket is good enough and the Edgbaston pitch and Edgbaston crowd and grandstand, or whatever it is, won’t play a part in deciding this Test match.”

“Tim taunts England fans” The Times reports on its back page while i Sport says the Aussie skipper “loses his cool” on the eve of the Ashes.

With all the talking now done The Daily Telegraph says “let battle commence”.