PERTH, Australia (AP) — England fast bowler Mark Wood could play in the first Ashes test against Australia starting next Friday after scans cleared him of a hamstring injury.
Wood experienced tightness in his left hamstring after bowling his eighth over on the opening day of England’s three-day warm-up match at Lilac Hill in Perth on Thursday. The 35-year-old Wood was playing his first match since undergoing left knee surgery in March.
The England team said in a statement Saturday that scans have cleared him of any damage and that he would train next week in a bid to prove his fitness for the first test in Perth.
“Following precautionary scans on Friday, England fast bowler Mark Wood has been cleared of any concerns regarding his left hamstring,” England said in a statement. “Wood will continue to train as planned in the build-up to the first test in Perth.”
Jofra Archer, who returned figures of 1-51 from 12.3 overs on a docile pitch during the Lions’ first-innings total of 375, looms as a more likely option for the opening test than Wood.
Archer has played just two tests over the past four years, but the injury-prone fast bowler has played for England in ODI and T20 formats in recent months.
England’s decision to use a sole three-day intra-team match as its only preparation for the Ashes has drawn criticism.
Australia captain and fast bowler Pat Cummins has already been ruled out of the first test.
The Nov. 21-25 Perth match will be followed by a day-night test at the Gabba in Brisbane starting Dec. 4, then the series moves to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
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FILE -England's Mark Wood reacts after bowls a delivery during the third one day international cricket match between India and England in Ahmedabad, India,, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Ajit Solanki , File)
COTONOU, Benin (AP) — A coup that was announced in Benin on Sunday has been “foiled,” the interior minister said in a video on Facebook.
“In the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny with the aim of destabilizing the state and its institutions,” Alassane Seidou said.
“Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their leadership, true to their oath, remained committed to the republic.”
Earlier, a group of soldiers had appeared on Benin ’s state TV Sunday to announce the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, the latest of many in West Africa.
The group, which called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation, announced the removal of the president and all state institutions. Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri has been appointed president of the military committee, the soldiers said.
Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups, especially in the decades following its independence. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou.
There has been no official news about President Patrice Talon since gunshots were heard around the presidential residence. The signal to state television and public radio was cut off after the military announcement.
Talon had been in power since 2016 and was due to step down next April after the presidential election.
Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, was the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.
In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged 2024 coup plot.
Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.
The coup is the latest in a string of military takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.
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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.
FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
