Pietersen has England players ‘buzzing’ but McCullum delivers Carse warning

  • Former England batter starts role with white-ball teams

  • Fleming also ‘right person’ to take Test team forward

Brendon McCullum has revealed that he was the driving force behind the recruitment of Kevin Pietersen as a specialist mentor to England’s white-ball teams and said the new arrival had specific orders to “look across the environment and challenge me”.

Pietersen spent his first day in the role monitoring training at the Utilita Bowl after delivering an address that had the players “buzzing”, according to McCullum, England’s white-ball coach.

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One constant menace and post-Bazball malaise: England’s winners and losers | Simon Burnton

Some have stepped to the fore during a period of uncertainty, while others appear to be struggling for form

Robinson started the first Test by taking three wickets in an over, started his final bowling innings by taking two in an over, and between showed extraordinary control and consistency. His skill has never been in doubt but his fitness and work ethic were, so much so that he made only one appearance in just under three years before the comeback this summer.

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Stephen Fleming inherits intriguing squad after England’s unsettling summer | Ali Martin

New Test head coach’s arrival and Root’s calming influence as captain add to promising signs in the post-Stokes era

As Joe Root calmly ran the rule over the Test summer and reeled off the ways in which it had been “chaos”, “unusual” and “unsettling” for England, it felt telling that first among them was Ben Stokes calling time on his international career during a match and a series that were both still live at the time.

Cricketers announcing their retirement mid-game is nothing new. Heather Knight went on to do the same during the women’s Test at Lord’s two weeks later. Root is also too loyal to Stokes to question openly whether that scene-stealing exit before New Zealand’s win at Trent Bridge was entirely in keeping with his call for “selfless cricketers” four years earlier.

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England beat Pakistan after early scare: third men’s cricket Test, day four – as it happened

After an early scare, Joe Root and Jordan Cox usher England to victory and a 3-0 clean sweep of Pakistan

Razaullah’s agent is giving it some welly on X – apparently his phone is ringing red. Razaullah was due to play for Cleethorpes in the Yorkshire Southern Premier League before:

“@TheRealPCBMedia come calling - sort his Passport out, and wing him over for @Edgbaston. He’s now made his mark. Franchises already showing interest. Our phones have blown up. Watch this space!”

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