All change for the Oval as England hope for normality after extraordinary week

It is rare to make five changes after winning by more than a hundred runs, but this has not been a normal week between Tests for England

These past 10 days must have been curious for New Zealand’s cricketers, as their restful mid-series downtime was occasionally interrupted by news of England’s latest convulsions. “I guess it probably wasn’t necessarily what we were expecting,” deadpanned their captain, Tom Latham.

At least most of his own side got a chance to relax. “A lot of guys have had some good family time, they’ve had a bit of time off to refresh the bodies, refresh the minds and get ready for what we’ve got coming up,” Latham said. “We’re not necessarily used to a big break like that, but guys did their own thing, some guys got away. So we’re ready to go.”

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Brendon McCullum concerned for Ben Stokes after England captain dropped

  • Stokes and Gus Atkinson left out for Oval Test after curfew breach

  • McCullum speaking to Stokes daily, not pushing him to return to cricket

Brendon McCullum has spoken of his concern for Ben Stokes’s wellbeing as the England captain sits out this week’s second Test against New Zealand as a result of his breaking the team curfew after the first Test at Lord’s.

The fallout from Stokes and his teammate Gus Atkinson deciding to spend the early hours of last Monday morning at a Chelsea nightclub rather than the team hotel has dominated the week between the two matches. While McCullum, the England head coach, admitted he initially had a strong negative reaction to learning about the curfew breach, he said this quickly changed. He has spoken to Stokes every day since the story broke, and said those conversations had left him feeling worried.

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