England's winter of cricket 2024/25

The squad for the tour of Pakistan has just been announced...Stokes and Crawley are back, with Dan Lawrence dropped. There are also recalls for Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach, with Brydon Carse getting a tour also.

Full squad (likely XI then others);

Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ollie Pope
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Ben Stokes
Jamie Smith (wk)
Gus Atkinson
Olly Stone
Jack Leach
Shoaib Bashir

Reserves:
Jordan Cox
Brydon Carse
Rehan Ahmed
Chris Woakes
Josh Hull
Matthew Potts

Will MacPherson noting they see Tom Hartley as more suited for the true turning wickets of SL/India/Bangladesh, hence his omission. Tests likely to be played at Rawalpindi, Multan, Rawalpindi. (Two Pindi tests...fun).

Extra seamers suggest Stokes might not be fit to bowl?

Guess Rehan has a chance given his batting, particularly if Stokes can't be an option. Think Woakes is likely to play as the experienced seamer

I wondered when we'd see the squad, as the first test is under four weeks away! And still no TV broadcaster...

So it looks like Lawrence's adventures v Sri Lanka, which was a chance for him to challenge for a regular spot, have seen him go completely the other way and now he's not even the reserve bat! Fair. But with only 17 in the squad, there might need to be a rush to call up more cover if an injury occurs...unless England think they can cover an injury by moving Woakes to 7?

I must say the bowling doesn't look too exciting to me. Atkinson and Stone will be the main weapons.

Woakes...it's a huge series for him. If he performs well here, then further tours to NZ and Australia await. But if he falters overseas again - and let's take a moment to remember his overseas record, which is 20 tests and a bowling average of nearly 52, with his last test in Asia coming in 2016 - then England need to look to other options for NZ, with that being the last overseas series before Australia. This should be Jimmy's spot, not Woakes'.

Potts, big series for him as well. Carse is obviously highly rated by the England set up, so I'm not too surprised to see his inclusion, though I don't personally think much of him. He has had a rotten county season, with season figures of 4/424 and an economy of nearly 4.5. He's another bowler that can't be classed as a control bowler, an area where England are definitely lacking.

Hull retaining a place. Well...that's a risk. If he gets carted then it could actually be detrimental to his development, and we know those wickets in Pakistan are quite lifeless.

Pleased to see Rehan return. If he plays, I hope Stokes gives him the ball at decent times, unlike in India where Root often got the ball before Rehan. Surprised they've backed Leach over Hartley. I had thought we'd seen the last of Leach.

Starting XI will obviously have Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes and Smith as the top seven. I think it might be Woakes, Atkinson, Stone and Bashir as the bowling attack, but if England think it'll turn more then Leach will likely play over one of Atkinson/Stone. Pope will be hoping it doesn't turn much! I think Woakes will definitely play, because England need some experience in their attack and he's the only seamer who can be relied on to bowl economically.

It's a curious series. Pakistan are in a dreadful state and there's an argument that they're the weakest WTC team around right now. No wins in their last ten tests at home. Shocking. England should be targeting a 3-0 win, and I hope they've learned from the slap in the face SL gave them.

I was definitely expecting Leach to return here. He was clearly the first choice spinner in India before the latest injury. Then Bashir impressed and took the first spot but Leach makes complete sense for this series IMO.

Stokes and Crawley returning are obviously big boosts. Crawley especially should do well in those conditions. If the pitches are dead then scoring quickly, hence fast starts, suddenly becomes an important part of forcing results.

The bowling is more mixed but that has been the case overseas for a long while now. Atkinson impressing so much and Stone returning certainly help with that. But Wood getting his latest injury does not.

I'd say that squad looks slightly better than the one that beat Pakistan in 2022. Livi and Jacks were playing as spin bowling all-rounders in that series, then Rehan making a debut in T3. I'd much rather Bashir and Leach as a spin attack with Rehan as a potential all-rounder (of sorts at this point in his development) if conditions required it. Whilst Smith makes the middle order look so much stronger.

Thinking back on that '22 series drives home how frustrating Ollie Robinson is though. He performed a tough role well in that series. He should've been leading the attack by now given how talented he is. Instead his conditioning kept being all over the place and he's out in the cold. A shame.

Duty281 wrote:  

It's a curious series. Pakistan are in a dreadful state and there's an argument that they're the weakest WTC team around right now. No wins in their last ten tests at home. Shocking. England should be targeting a 3-0 win, and I hope they've learned from the slap in the face SL gave them.

Pak have hit their nadir. They cannot go lower while going up is a possibility.
Pak are a nation whose cricketing passion cannot be doubted not do they lack skills. All that they need to do is get rid of 4 or 5 warring seniors and plug-in talent from their reasonably good FC system.
A younger cohesive team cannot do worse.
If I was PCB, I would order a rank turning pitch and in a lottery that would given them a 50% win chance which is not a bad probability.

Therein lies Eng's problem....that they are somewhat likely to find a  resurgent Pak....and Pak's loss to BD and Eng's own show last time  has set reference bar at 3-0 for a good performance.
Eng should be careful and play "proper" test cricket and be ready to take 1-0 or 2-1 win also as a good result.

They should definitely prepare sharp turners. Maybe the shock of losing to Bangladesh will provide the spark needed to make such a change? Time will tell.

Duty281 wrote:Carse is obviously highly rated by the England set up, so I'm not too surprised to see his inclusion, though I don't personally think much of him. He has had a rotten county season, with season figures of 4/424 and an economy of nearly 4.5. He's another bowler that can't be classed as a control bowler, an area where England are definitely lacking.

I have a feeling that McCullum might be eyeing Carse as someone to potentially try in a Neil Wagner type role.

I've banged on and on before about how unique Wagner, but he is a fascinating outlier. He bowled by a distance the most bouncers in Test cricket. Averaging 28 an innings. At one point, the next most bouncers bowled over the same period as Wagner's barrage were by Mitch Starc and he'd bowled close to half as many! Wagner's economy and average from bouncers were brilliant - top three in both I believe. 35% of his wickets were from bouncers. Whilst the average for seamers was around 12%. We haven't seen another bowler go short that often. He really is unique. It carried him to 260 wickets at a near identical career average to Broad.

Vitally from England's perspective, the bouncers made Wagner an elite change bowler. Which is so often one of England's biggest issues. The number of seamers in Test history to have taken over 100 wickets bowling first change or later his incredibly small. Something like 14 or 15 last time I updated my stats on this. It's a ridiculous stat. As expected, bowlers usually have worse records bowling first change compared to when they open as well. Absolute elites like Joel Garner, Pat Cummins and Malcolm Marshall still average low twenties. Other greats like Beefy and Walsh averaged around 26 when bowling first change. Wagner? He averaged 26 and took over 200 wickets. His first change average was 3 runs better than Morne Morkel and 5 runs better than Mitch Johnson!

McCullum was still around NZ cricket, albeit in his twilight as a player, when Wagner shifted to this method. He'll have seen the plan evolving and the Black Caps realising the potential of it. It allowed him to prise out wickets on those dead pitches that NZ moved to in order to produce more batters in F-C cricket and score more runs in Tests. Wagner was absolutely vital to their success at home, and then away, by being so effective in overs where others usually struggled. Which in turn allowed those other bowlers to be saved for when they were most effective.

Carse certainly has the pace for that role. He's quicker than Wagner. The question is whether he can come near Wagner's incredible fitness, he bowled long spells banging it in, and accuracy. Also, vitally, how important the left-arm angle was to Wagner's method? Could Carse replicated it by coming round the wicket? Wagner is such an outlier that we really don't know.

If they're going to try it, then Pakistan seems the best place if the pitches remain what they've been for a while. You'll have lots of overs where conventional seam bowling wont get much traction, which lends itself to trying something different.

I don't mind them looking outside the box with change bowlers given that county cricket is so geared towards opening seamers. So long as the plans are well executed of course. Bouncers bowled inaccurately become cannon fodder. Wagner's success was dependent on outstanding accuracy and very smart fields which he bowled to expertly. I don't mind a funky plan if it's properly planned and executed. If they try Carse in that role, then the quality of execution will be the key, just the same as the most traditional swing bowling with a new Dukes.