Category: England Cricket

• Brendon McCullum wants to modify his side’s seam attack
• ‘I’m going to miss walking out for England so much,’ says bowler

Jimmy Anderson has announced July’s first Test against West Indies at Lord’s will be his final appearance for England.

As exclusively revealed by the Guardian on Friday, the England bowler has confirmed the end of his stellar international career – and his final international fixture. “The first Test of the summer at Lord’s will be my last Test,” Anderson wrote on Instagram.

More details to follow …

From his breakthrough World Cup in 2003 to bamboozling Kohli a decade later, here are five of Anderson’s best years

Record wicket-taker has played a fifth of all England’s Tests, and the absence of his guile and skill will take some getting used to

The day Fred Trueman took his 300th Test wicket, they asked him if he thought anyone would ever beat his record. “Aye,” Trueman said, “but whoever does it will be bloody tired.” Well, three dozen have in the 60 years since, nine of them were spinners, a craft with its own particular pains and difficulties, but it’s the 27 fast bowlers among them who know, deep in their own bones, the kind of tiredness Trueman was talking about. There’s Dennis Lillee on 355, Wasim Akram on 414, Glenn McGrath on 563, Stuart Broad on 604, and then, off beyond the lot of them, Jimmy Anderson, on 700 and counting.

Anderson has one last summer of Test cricket ahead of him; chances are there are not many wickets left to add. There may be a farewell Test, or three, perhaps one at his home ground of Old Trafford, where he already has an end named after him. He will have a shot at beating Shane Warne’s total of 708 Test wickets and taking second place on the all-time list behind Muttiah Muralitharan. After that, England will bank on their younger, faster bowlers and beat on towards the Ashes without him.

The all-rounder is confident his local knowledge and coolness under pressure can help England retain their title in the Caribbean

After England showed their hand for the T20 World Cup in the week, Jofra Archer fired up his Instagram live, transporting anyone who clicked to the sunshine of Barbados. It was a hardworking net session firing down white Kookaburras alongside Chris Jordan, his friend being the second headline recall on the day.

Their stories have been intertwined over the years, Jordan first to cross the Atlantic to pursue his dream in English cricket as a teenager and then older brother and mentor when Archer, six years his junior, followed suit. Before Archer made that stirring Test debut at Lord’s five years ago he requested Jordan present the cap, CJ nailing the speech like a trademark yorker as his young sidekick swelled with pride.

Amid rising tides of Twenty20 run-rates, the champions have opted for more aggression in their batting lineup

England will travel to the Caribbean for their T20 World Cup defence in June without an anchor aboard ship, their team director, Rob Key, instead confident that six-hitting power is the best way to approach a possible “slugfest”.

This much was clear from the 15-man provisional squad named by Key on Tuesday; one that must atone for last year’s carbuncle of a 50-over World Cup campaign in India. It brings a return for Jofra Archer after his latest year-long injury ordeal, the best wishes of the nation very much behind him. But overall it is clearly designed to outgun opponents amid the rising tide of run-rates in Twenty20 cricket this year.

• Bowler has recovered from long-standing elbow issue
• Spinner Hartley selected over Ahmed in initial 15-man squad

Jofra Archer has been cleared to play in England’s T20 World Cup defence after recovering from the elbow injury that has dogged him for more than four years. The 29-year-old has been named in the 15-man squad that will play four games against Pakistan next month and serves as the provisional selection for the tournament that starts on 1 June in the West Indies and the United States.

Despite being an established first-team player Archer has appeared in only 14 of England’s 65 T20s over the last four years, after first being diagnosed with a stress fracture of his right elbow in January 2020. He has played only three international T20s in three years, all during last year’s tour of Bangladesh, bowling just 11 overs, and has not played a competitive game of any kind since last May.

• Fast bowler has struggled with longstanding elbow issue
• Chris Jordan also in line to feature in 15-man squad

Jofra Archer is set to make his long-awaited England return as part of the 15-man T20 World Cup squad that is named on Tuesday, with Chris Jordan also in line for a recall to the white-ball set-up.

Archer has not played for England since a limited-overs tour of Bangladesh in March last year after his longstanding right elbow issue – stress fractures in the joint – resurfaced and prompted another lengthy absence for the fast bowler.

England’s white-ball coach, Matthew Mott, needs a strong campaign but schedule means he ‘hardly sees’ best players

As Dukes balls whistle around the shires and white Kookaburras are carted to all parts in the Indian Premier League, England’s thoughts turn to the Caribbean and a T20 World Cup title defence that can ill-afford to go the way of its 50-over equivalent last year.

T20 is probably too capricious a format to dub it a case of silverware or bust but it’s clear that Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott need a strong campaign – semi-finals minimum, perhaps – after the grisly one-day international abdication in India. England stumbled out of the traps there, with six defeats in their first seven games. “I feel this actually should be the making of those two as a partnership,” said Rob Key, the team director, at the time, before adding: “If it isn’t, it isn’t, and you move on.”