England's Summer of Cricket 2024

First topic message reminder :

Now the County Championship has begun, it is officially summer once more. Don't let the rain tell you otherwise!

We can talk about promising county performances, the build up to the World T20, and Ollie Robinson's latest injury when it happens. Then, in just under two months, England start playing games:

England v Pakistan, four T20s, 22nd May-30th May
World T20 in June
England v West Indies, three tests, 10th July-30th July
England v Sri Lanka, three tests, 21st August-10th September
England v Australia, three T20s, 11th September-15th September
England v Australia, five ODIs, 19th September-29th September

It's a bit of a pressure summer for England. The ODI side made the most disappointing defence of a World Cup crown since France in the football in 2002, so there's pressure on the T20 side, and Mott in particular, to deliver something decent in the Caribbean.

For the test match side, it's been three series without a series win for England, so the expectation is on for England to get back to winning ways against the West Indies and Sri Lanka. The West Indies often cause England a few troubles, but England have won their last seven home series v the West Indies, dating back to 2000, and you have to go back to 1988 for the last time the West Indies won a series in England.

Sri Lanka are visiting for the first time in eight years for a test series, so it's well overdue. They've certainly managed to upset England in the past, very famously in 1998, but also in 2014, so it's a series that cannot be taken for granted.

And to round off the summer the ECB are making a dash for cash, with eight limited overs games against the Aussies in the fading September light, in games that will probably be forgotten in no time at all.

In amongst all the other nonsense let us not forget Australia drew their home series with this West Indies team earlier this year

Before anyone feels sorry for the Windies, just remember that 30-40 years ago they were doing this to England.

And we had to endure five-Test series, and even some six-Test series, so the Windies can be thankful they are heading home after just a 3-0 defeat.

The newbies have done well for England and the set-up and Stokes' captaincy style probably helped them settle down straight away.

Hope Crawley's finger break heals quickly. He had only the one good score but you feel if fit he'll make Sri Lanka pay.

The Windies had their moments and I liked the look of their opener who appears to have a good technique and temperament. It was a pity an experienced team did not have the services of their best bowler.

WI were behind the proverbial eight ball & like T2 instead of being able to rise at the end, just fell in a heap.

Is there anything WI can take away?
Man to man they have a bowling attack which is as good as many in the world.
Maybe batting of Hodge.
And the biggest take away is
" we don't care for test cricket, we will play merrily , show off our individual skills to pick Franchise contracts &  occasionally win an odd test".

Eng delivered the clinical 3-0  that is a par result.
Their bowling looks potent with Stokes, Atkinson, Bashir being Solid 3 in every 11.
The emergence of Atkinson & Bashir is a big plus, who will do well I think even against big sides.

Wood an electric game changer who can play 2 to 3 games in big series for next year or two if his body holds.
Woakes to me is still the weak link....but he can bat and is OK as 5th bowler.
Batting...not much should be read into it.
Eng talk too much in pre/Post match conferences and should remember, it's only WI.

Decent enough win, and a good innings from Smith in particular, which shows promise for tougher assignments ahead. Hard to get too excited by the series win, I am pretty sure that's every home series vs Windies won since 2000 now, and quite often by a similar scoreline

Find it baffling that England haven't won in the Windies for over 20 years now, though they do seem to reserve their very worst cricket for those tours

I was following cricket then switched over to watch rugby sevens and by time was done England had won.
Remarkable by Stokes, the hint was there when he opened

I didn’t see any of the game so am in no position to properly judge MotM but from the scorecard and various reports, including here, I thought Smith might have edged it over Wood. A vital and highest score plus 5 match catches.

Nothing against Wood. Just that whilst he took a second innings fivefer, the Windies were already 5 down (think that’s right) and clearly heading towards defeat. That said, I did notice an earlier post from wisden saying how well Wood had bowled without any luck or much reward at that stage.

Anyway, I was pleased to see praise for Smith from McCullum and Stokes after the game. McCullum referred to him keeping “very well … without being noticed” and bringing “more punch to the number 7 role”. In a similar vein, Stokes referred to the positivity of Smith and contrasted it to us having been too “one dimensional” in the recent past. Neither McCullum or Stokes mentioned Foakes (in the reports I read) but the comparison and reason as to why the batting needed strengthening was clear. Regulars will know this is something that Olly and I have been banging on about for some time.

Could have easily been Smith for PoTM - equally Root or Stokes ; suspect the spectacular nature of the Wood five , following his dead unlucky but excellent first innings spells , edged it for him. Maybe a bit of "recency bias" as it sort of closed the show down ?

Smith has fitted in very nicely. Decent keeper from what we have seen so far - though I know there is armada of on-line Foakes fans waiting to pounce the moment he fumbles a catch or misses a stumping This innings probably more impressive than the first one as there was a touch more pressure about when he came in. Have to love the clean manner of his big hits ! He will face tougher attacks and some will have done their homework on him so we shouldn't necessarily expect those scores every week ; but you can't ask for much more from a first series.

I like Wood but not sure taking five lower order wickets when the game had effectively already been won is worthy of PoTM, probably would have gone for Smith who would certainly have got it if he was out for 100 rather than 95.

Yeah, Wood knocked over the tail, in spectacular fashion, but it was Root and Smith with decent support from a few others that put England into a winning position

Good match for Smith anyway, it was a better innings than anything Foakes has offered for a few years, and the keeping looks tidy enough. Foakes also isn't as good with the gloves in reality as people would like to believe, including his timidity around DRS

Well polished off by England in the end. 3-0, an expected result. The West Indies competed well at times, but as we anticipated really, they also had a number of shocking collapses which was the main difference.

I'm not sure how much England have learnt from this series, for the tougher games ahead in the winter, and I feel like the chance has been missed to give other players experience.

England now have nearly a month off, before they hit the utterly insane fixture list.

Between the 21st August and the 18th of December, England will play nine tests, eight T20s and eight ODIs. That's 61 scheduled days of cricket in 119 days, across England and three foreign countries (Pakistan, New Zealand and the West Indies).

Duty281 wrote:England now have nearly a month off, before they hit the utterly insane fixture list.

Between the 21st August and the 18th of December, England will play nine tests, eight T20s and eight ODIs. That's 61 scheduled days of cricket in 119 days, across England and three foreign countries (Pakistan, New Zealand and the West Indies).

It's an unusually dense period of Tests in particular. I'm expecting the white ball side to have a new look to it, so workload there doesn't feel like it should be as much of an issue. I'd expect Wood to be involved in white ball relatively little from here. Root has always been managed outside the big tournaments. Stokes is basically retired from white ball anyway.

Atkinson seems the obvious seamer that will need managed. Duckett from the batters? Maybe Crawley, who I think could be very good indeed in ODIs.

It'll be interesting to see the makeup for Pakistan given they're dead wickets rather than turning ones. Leach will presumably still come back into the squad in case they want two spinners. Rehan and/or Hartley too as spinners who can bat will be useful if they want to add bowling options? Livi and Jacks played last time after all.

Robinson was very good in Pakistan during their whitewash in 2022. Could that be the point where he gets looked at again if they're going to?

Wood would have taken the wickets of much better batsmen with some of those deliveries - 90+ mph, pitched up and swinging late is pretty tough when it's accurate. A much better solution to bowl at no 11 than to try to stop the strike being farmed.

Smith and Atkinson come out of their first series with major credit, Bashir justified his selection and all the batsmen contributed at some point.

As for the Windies, there's the foundations of a half way decent team there - certainly the bowling side of it is good enough. Batting is hugely inexperienced, but a couple of them looked half way to decent if given some time to settle in to their roles. The biggest difference between the two sides was that when the game started to get away from England they were able to halt the slide and get back into it, whereas it tended to just snowball on the Windies. If the Windies had been 50-5 on Saturday, they'd have been all out for 80.

Windies were missing Roach too. He's their best bowler and fantastic in English conditions. Such a shame as that was almost certainly our last chance to see him in Tests over here given he's 36 now. The way Roach reinvented himself after a car accident to go from a genuine pace bowler to a fantastic seamer and scourge of lefties from round the wicket was marvellous. I was really looking forward to him bowling in this series after gaining a lot of experience with the Dukes whilst at Surrey.

Their bowling has plenty of talent. It just doesn't get that much chance to develop. Alzarri Joseph has lots of talent but so often bowls in Tests like he's trying to remember how to play F-C cricket. Which is exactly what you'd expect from the schedule.

Running a domestic F-C comp in the Windies is so difficult though. You've got the challenges that domestic red ball cricket has everywhere. Then then the funding issues of the WICB. Then the varying economic difficulties of the different countries that make up the Windies. Then you need to fly teams from island to island just to play a game. The costs involved in the travel alone are colossal for a sport that loses money even in England where red ball revenue is huge from Tests. Whilst the tournaments being played across different countries makes it incredibly difficult to get any significant form of sponsorship.

I've mentioned plenty of times that I'd love for the CC to offer an extra overseas place for non-Test nations. Given the disparities between the big three and the rest, that could even be extended to players from the less well funded Test nations. Mikyle Louis has plenty of talent, a few full CC seasons could help develop that. If we're going to have 18 F-C counties, then you can realistically have 3 or even 4 overseas players whilst there still being abundant opportunity for English talent.

If you wanted to go even further, the England Lions have played in the Windies F-C comp in the past when the ECB were looking for opportunities for English players to play F-C cricket overseas. Could they look at doing similar in the CC for development sides from West Indies and Bangladesh? A combined team from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya? Even a European team from Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland?

Mott gone, not a surprise given he was apparently in some kind of emergency meeting with Key a couple of days ago. It was never likely to be a meeting to agree the payrise and contract extension!

Right call. Last two tournaments have been a complete mess, the last one had numerous head scratching decisions.

Flintoff to succeed, or is it just a little too soon for him?

Yeah, it makes complete sense. The CWC was shambolic. Whilst the World T20 was stuttering.

It's also a completely different situation now to when Mott was installed too. He was very much a continuity pick. It was a high performing side under Bayliss, they just wanted an experienced coach to keep doing that. Problem was, that "sneakily old white ball side" (as Olly described it a few years ago) saw many key players fall off a cliff at once. Morgan's eyes looked painted on for a while before retirement. Roy's form evaporated. Bairstow had that freak leg break. Stokes had one knee for a while. Then Plunkett never really got replaced for the middle overs role.

We've gone from needing continuity to needing a bit of a rebuild. A new coach makes complete sense for that. I think it's too soon for Flintoff. I wouldn't be overly surprised if he got it though.

Punter has just left DC. I think he'd be an absolutely brilliant target for a significant rebuild like this. Whether he'd fancy an international job is a different question though.

Tres makes sense as a short term appointment. Especially when a new coach likely wouldn't have a full squad available for their first series given the packed schedule that Duty listed.

Crawley out of the SL series apparently, Dan Lawrence to replace him and open

GSC wrote:Crawley out of the SL series apparently, Dan Lawrence to replace him and open

That’s the same Dan Lawrence who has been batting at 6 for Surrey in the Championship.
Not saying that’s wrong but things sure are different these days!

Playing with Surrey's second keeper and Somersets second spinner

Is Lawrence definitely gonna open, or will Stokes move up and open?

Crawley also a doubt for the Pakistan series, so whoever replaces him might get a six test run.

Jennings the obvious choice. Lawrence the Bazball choice.

Duty281 wrote:Crawley also a doubt for the Pakistan series, so whoever replaces him might get a six test run.

Jennings the obvious choice. Lawrence the Bazball choice.

If Crawley's gonna be out for Pakistan too then that should increase Jennings' chances - his issue has never been his batting in Asia - and the SL series would give him a chance to settle into the new setup.

Attacking middle order batsman from Surrey to open in Tests. Sounds kind of familiar. Can only hope it goes better this time if it does happen!

Stokes opens. Bohannon in at 3. Pope at 6. This is the way.

Jokes aside, it should really be Jennings when there is a subcontinent tour coming up. Even if that tour will be dead wickets rather than turning ones. Horses for courses. We do it with bowlers and should do with batters as well.

While we are celebrating good riddance.
Is this being considered for Real

England Test squad: Ben Stokes (Durham, capt), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Jordan Cox (Essex), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey, wkt), Olly Stone (Nottinghamshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

Test squad for Sri Lanka.

Great to see Olly Stone back. Jordan Cox comes in to fill the Lawrence reserve role. Lawrence will be playing as opener, according to all indications. Pennington is injured and so misses out entirely.

Graham Thorpe has died. Awful news. Only 55 years old.

Might be related to the unknown illness he was announced to have had two years ago which left him in a serious condition.

Very sad news, my favourite player during the early 2000s, the man who would often score the tough runs as England started to turn the corner and win series that they'd previously have lost easily. Away series in Sri Lanka and West Indies were probably his very best performances

Very sad news indeed - averaged 62 from start of 2004 to his final test in June 2005, always thought he was unlucky to miss out on the 2005 Ashes (a success he probably deserved to part of). Many will know better, but back then it seemed to be KP or Thorpe in the XI, when really both should have played and Bell should have been left out? (as much as I love Ian Bell, and what he became)

Yeah, Bell v1 shouldn't have been there, the Aussies had him on toast all series. Thorpe was definitely left out for KP, I think Bell had a few good Tests against poor opposition and I suppose it was a pick with an eye on the future. But if one player from the awful 90s period deserved to win the Ashes, it was Thorpe

I was in a Pub in the Oxford area listening to radio commentary of Thorpe hitting winning runs in darkness in that famous test win in Karachi, to cheering & clinking of glasses.

He averaged 45 over 100 tests & that represents he was a batsman greater than hype around him
Sad.
RIP

Very sad news. One of my earliest cricketing memories is Trescothick, still my favourite ever player, getting a double ton vs SA at the Oval in 2003 - and he had a huge partnership with Thorpe, who was playing his first Test for a year after having to take time out of the game. And watching Thorpe ton up on his home ground in his comeback was joyous.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Very sad news indeed - averaged 62 from start of 2004 to his final test in June 2005, always thought he was unlucky to miss out on the 2005 Ashes (a success he probably deserved to part of). Many will know better, but back then it seemed to be KP or Thorpe in the XI, when really both should have played and Bell should have been left out? (as much as I love Ian Bell, and what he became)

If my memory serves me right Thorpe retired during the Lords test of 2005; have to think that he'd have been selected at some point during that series if he hadn't. Bell went on to become a very good player but at the time was clearly not up to test cricket; McGrath and Warne made him look silly throughout.

Very sad news, Thorpe was without doubt the finest batsmen England had from the mid 90's to his retirement, my abiding memory was his masterful century against Pakistan in Lahore; reached three figures having scored just the one boundary.

Horrible news to see. Thorpe was an excellent batter. He recreated himself following injury too. Early on he was a fluent stroke maker who famously started his F-C career as a nibbling seamer. As the back injuries that stopped him bowling got worse, he put many shots away but still found a way to churn out runs. Especially when the going was tough. There was still that panache of his early days there till the end in his knee up pull shot though.

He was England's best batter in a tough period for the Test team. Add in his very good fielding and the only England Test player on a par with him for most his career was Gough.

He had well documented issues in his private life but fought back from them with a successful return that bookended his career. I think Soul is right, had he not retired during that Lords Test, he may well have been recalled for Bell, if not taking Simon Jones' spot that Collingwood came into for the Oval.

No age at all but blimey did he squeeze plenty of life into the years he had. RIP.

Duty281 wrote:Graham Thorpe has died. Awful news. Only 55 years old.

Might be related to the unknown illness he was announced to have had two years ago which left him in a serious condition.

Awful indeed and harshly ironic that a great batsman, definitely of his era and of most others, is out so early.
The cause of his death will probably become known in due course.

Sad news indeed . Knew he had been ill for a long time but still a bit of a shock...far too young to be gone. He was a wonderful player , at his best when the going was difficult. Agree with others he was unlucky to miss out on the 2005 success when squeezed out by Pietersen on a media wave (totally justified I hasten to add ; but with Bell the future hope it meant he saw no point in continuing)

Karachi perhaps his most enduring monument.

On the team for Sri Lanka  : Lawrence the man who has been "reserve" for some time so I guess they want to give him a shot at last. Not sure opening will be his ideal spot but he will be happy to be in anywhere.

Stone for Pennington in the continuing case of Reserve England Pace Bowlers Carrying Drinks Between Injuries.  Maybe one of them will get to play one day ?  Jordan Cox the new batting reserve : suppose they like to have at least three WKs in the squad at any one time

Will miss the Crawley start to an innings , I think.

Sri Lanka have named their test squad for the three test series.

Dhananjaya De Silva (capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vice-capt), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Tharaka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake.

Many names to be familiar with, some not so much.

Milan Rathnayake is a right arm seamer and a potential test debutant. FC bowling average just above 30. Nisala Tharaka is another seamer and a FC veteran, 33 years old and 107 FC matches played, but yet to make a test appearance. He has 257 wickets @ just over 30. Cricinfo say he's an all rounder, but a FC batting average of below 20, and just one century in 144 innings, puts that into doubt!

Vandersay and Nissanka return after not playing the format since 2022, despite Nissanka's 60 FC average.

Like the West Indies, they've got some decent quick bowling options. I was impressed with A Fernando and Rajitha when I saw them play New Zealand in early 2023, and Kumara can be gold or tat with his explosive pace. Plenty of spin options, with Jayasuriya, Mendis and Vandersay.

Unlike the West Indies, Sri Lanka have plenty of experience in the batting. Mathews, Chandimal, Karunaratne and captain Dhananjaya have all played heaps of tests, and they might find the kinder batting wickets than they would usually expect in England to be to their liking.

No obvious absentees from a quick glance.

Surprising that Hasaranga hasn't been picked after ending his Test retirement to avoid a ban for the World T20...

There's plenty of decent batters in there as Duty says. Experienced ones too. Plus the talent of Madushka and Nissanka. Though F-C averages in Sri Lanka do need to be taken with a pinch of salt. They have 26 F-C teams I believe, so the standard does vary pretty astonishingly.

Prabath Jayasuria has a really decent Test record so far too as their premier spinner.

king_carlos wrote:Elsewhere, Rocky Flintoff has become Lancashire's youngest ever first team debutant in the one day cup.

After four games of not much, Rocky delivered in his fifth game today, top scoring for Lancashire with 88 after coming in at 25/2.

Wonder if he gets a Championship game in September?

Duty281 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Elsewhere, Rocky Flintoff has become Lancashire's youngest ever first team debutant in the one day cup.

After four games of not much, Rocky delivered in his fifth game today, top scoring for Lancashire with 88 after coming in at 25/2.

Wonder if he gets a Championship game in September?

At least he concentrates for long periods- must play in the championship

Looks like stokes has done his hamstring

Fantastic. Just as the balance looked to be right again for the test side, Stokes wrecks himself playing in some fourth-rate garbage competition.

Duty281 wrote:Fantastic. Just as the balance looked to be right again for the test side, Stokes wrecks himself playing in some fourth-rate garbage competition.

Maybe he can recover enuf to play as a batsman and field in slips.....Eng needs him for his Captaincy.

Interesting to see what they do if Stokes misses some Tests. Backing their squad selection would be Lawrence opening and Cox coming into the side at 6.

A smarter bet for the batting would be Lawrence at 6 and Jennings coming in to open.

For balance, if they want a 4th seamer, Sam Curran might genuinely be the best available option. He's been back at his very best with bat and ball in the Hundred. The reality of the modern game is that he's played little F-C cricket since dropping out the Test side though. He certainly had his moments at the top level despite starting at a very young age indeed. Smith is definitely good enough with the bat to shift up to 6. Curran at 7 and Woakes at 8 is still plenty of batting depth.

Alternatively, ask for more turning pitches, the use a combination of Root and Lawrence for overs. That would bring Prabath and Sri Lanka's useful part timers into the game as well though.

An interesting conundrum.

Duty281 wrote:Fantastic. Just as the balance looked to be right again for the test side, Stokes wrecks himself playing in some fourth-rate garbage competition.

Another reason to curse the blasted Hundred

That presents a lot of problems balancing the side. I suppose it does give Pope a chance to actually captain the team in what probably ought to be a less charged situation than and India or Australian series ; but I reckon they will really miss Stokes for the morale effect quite apart from his contributions to the scorecard. You'd think he is done for the entire series as they come so close together.

Sam Curran maybe ? Adds some variety and with Woakes as well the tail isn't too long.

Hope he will be OK for the tours to Pakistan and NZ.

Thorpe took his own life.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Fantastic. Just as the balance looked to be right again for the test side, Stokes wrecks himself playing in some fourth-rate garbage competition.

Another reason to curse the blasted Hundred

That presents a lot of problems balancing the side.  I suppose it does give Pope a chance to actually captain the team in what probably ought to be a less charged situation than and India or Australian series ; but I reckon they will really miss Stokes for the morale effect quite apart from his contributions to the scorecard. You'd think he is done for the entire series as they come so close together.

Sam Curran maybe ? Adds some variety and with Woakes as well the tail isn't too long.

Hope he will be OK for the tours to Pakistan and NZ.

We're expected to find out today the severity of the injury. I think him missing the SL series is a given. If it turns out it's a complete tear of the hamstring, then he might miss the winter tests as well, which would be a very cruel blow for someone who has tried so hard to come back from that recurrent knee problem and get back to bowling again.

Could be Curran, I suppose. But hasn't played a test in three years and no FC cricket this season. And with Lawrence opening and Curran at 7, the batting line up doesn't look especially strong.

Wonder if there's a left field Bazball option to come out of the hat?

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ben-stokes-injury-ruled-out-with-hamstring-tear-aims-for-pakistan-tour-1447316

Ben Stokes confirmed to miss the test series v Sri Lanka. He'll be aiming to make a comeback for the Pakistan series, as Crawley is doing, but it could be touch and go.

Means Pope will captain. Interestingly, no squad changes, so no recall for Curran or anything like that. Either Cox could come in as a specialist bat, and potentially leave England short of a proper fifth bowling option on what could be some flat tracks (with Lawrence/Root's PT spin taking a greater role) , or Woakes goes up to 7 and an extra bowler comes in.

Duty281 wrote:https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ben-stokes-injury-ruled-out-with-hamstring-tear-aims-for-pakistan-tour-1447316

Either Cox could come in as a specialist bat, and potentially leave England short of a proper fifth bowling option on what could be some flat tracks (with Lawrence/Root's PT spin taking a greater role) , or Woakes goes up to 7 and an extra bowler comes in.

If that is what happens Lanka with plenty of spinning options will be a handful