Category: England Cricket

With the Test team under pressure and desperately craving engagement, a returning firebrand could salvage the summer

The winged elephant swoops down Deansgate towards the ship canal, its wings glowing neon orange, a feral roar rising and falling unevenly in volume. A black taxi drives the wrong way down a rain-moistened street. A menacing urchin child with a dozen fingers stands in front of a disused steampunk factory, holding an outsized Victoriana bat.

Now there’s a bowler, who’s actually a wicketkeeper, who may actually be Jos Buttler in batting gloves. There are three batters at the crease, one of them in white and the other two in red. Aiden Markram runs up and bowls sideways. There is no ball in his hand. “Red in the dark, blue in the sea,” a haunting voiceover sings. The sun is out. The floodlights are on.

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Debate over Jofra Archer’s absence after his IPL stint and at least one new face in Emilio Gay add to enticing storylines

Lord’s hosts its 150th Test match this week and, like its famous lunch menu, there are plenty of enticing options as regards storylines. England are seeking redemption and refinement, apparently, following that god-awful Ashes winter. New Zealand are both familiar opponents and a tricky first assignment.

There is at least one new face for England, with Emilio Gay confirmed to make his debut at opener after patience with Zak Crawley finally snapped. There is an old one too, with Ollie Robinson back from the cold and set to take the new ball after convincing the management that he is now a committed professional.

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It may be the closely guarded private fiefdom of the MCC, but weight of history makes the ground a true institution

There are three Lord’s in London. The first is six feet under Dorset Square next to Marylebone station, where these days a square foot of a single-bed flat will set you back a thousand pounds. The second is buried beneath the Lisson Grove moorings on the Regents canal, where the canal boaters grow tomatoes along the towpath. And the third, the current world-famous ground, is two blocks over on the Wellington Road, on a patch rented in the 19th century from the Eyre family, who made their money in wine and slavery. So long as there are ravens in the Tower, it always will be.

This week, Lord’s holds its 150th Test. It was a late starter. Tests were played at Melbourne, Sydney, the Oval and Old Trafford before it held its first in July 1884, but it will become the first ground in the world to reach this sesquicentenary. The MCG comes next, with 118. But then, much to the gall of every other corner of the country where they play Test cricket, Lord’s has had the advantage of holding two games a year every year this century. And because this is England, they’ve managed to make the rest of us think it’s us who are privileged by it.

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• Critics have called situation ‘ludicrous’ and ‘frustrating’

• ‘Jofra may not play for England if handled differently’

Ben Stokes has defended England’s decision to excuse Jofra Archer from the start of the Test summer so he could compete in the Indian Premier League, saying a more militant approach risks a situation where “players like him might not play for England again”.

On Wednesday Archer was strongly criticised by the former New Zealand bowler Simon Doull, who described his absence as “absolutely ludicrous” and “completely wrong”. The former England batter Mark Butcher has previously said it was “absolutely ridiculous”, while Michael Atherton described it as “incredibly frustrating”.

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• Brendon McCullum backs quick bowler to bring ‘noise’

• Gus Atkinson could play if conditions less hot at Lord’s

England have announced a slimmed-down squad of 12 for the first match of the summer, against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on Thursday, postponing until the last minute a decision over whether to reward the “full noise” approach of Hampshire’s Sonny Baker with a Test debut.

The approach mirrors that at the first Ashes Test last November, when England announced a 12-man squad that featured both Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir before opting in the end for Wood’s extra pace. On this occasion Bashir will play, having been preferred to Rehan Ahmed as the team’s frontline spinner, while Jacob Bethell is fit after a finger injury and also able to bowl if required.

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The England head coach has five key challenges to address in the buildup to next week’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s

For all that the series was obviously a failure, England were competitive for periods of most of the Ashes Tests. But McCullum has repeatedly conceded that in the key moments when matches tend to be decided his side have a habit of stumbling. The question is why, and on Friday he made the telling admission: “I thought some of our guys were more ready for the pressure that was coming in Australia than they [actually] were.” So he has had to reconsider how to best prepare for such intangibles. England were widely condemned for a lackadaisical buildup to the first Ashes Test but McCullum implied that his players’ problem was not down to poor preparation, but actually to poor, or insufficient, coaching. Given that the removal of pressure has always been at the very heart of his coaching philosophy, this is essentially an admission of failure. “That’s always been one of our things, to try and take pressure away from the guys,” he said. “[But] it’s going to land with some guys before it’s going to land with others, and our job is to make sure it lands with everyone a little quicker than maybe it has done.” McCullum is now clear that for his players to overcome pressure he does not just have to create good vibes, but also put in hard work. “It’s making sure we’re a little bit more drilled down on some of those tactics so the guys have got absolute clarity in those pressure moments, so that we can hopefully be able to handle those better than we have in the bigger series so far,” he said.

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• Top-order batter to fly back to UK for medical assessment

• Risks missing series opener with New Zealand at Lord’s

England’s top-order batter Jacob Bethell will return to the UK to be “fully assessed” on the finger injury he picked up playing in the Indian Premier League.

Bethell was missing from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru side which lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday, with the captain, Rajat Patidar, confirming the 22-year-old had damaged his finger.

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Brendon McCullum will have to adapt to a new environment as Test setup looks to move on from thrashing

In selecting Emilio Gay and James Rew for their Test squad to face New Zealand, England have in one sense been true to their word. The Ashes mea culpa included a promise to give more weight to domestic performances. Both men tick that box.

Yet as the team picks up the pieces after the 4-1 defeat in Australia, wounds licked and lessons learned, perhaps the question is whether they are staying true to themselves more broadly – or even, who actually are they these days?

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