Category: England National Cricket

• Mike Hesson had only been in the UK to meet the king

• Interim picks up the pieces after seven players sent home

Mike Hesson was only in the UK this week to meet King Charles. But now the New Zealander finds himself interim head coach of a Pakistan Test side that have sent seven players and his predecessor home. As Hesson put it after his first net session: “The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am.”

Even by Pakistan’s standards, this past week has been more than a little chaotic, with their somewhat nuclear response to going 2-0 down to England the talk of the sport. Hesson, previously Pakistan’s white-ball coach, has been parachuted in to restore some pride in the third Test at Edgbaston that starts next week.

Continue reading...

Series and matches are getting shorter as the sport’s pace of change quickens – as if cricket is a proxy for wider fears

There was a strange atmosphere on the final day of the Lord’s Test last week. It was a bank holiday Sunday, Jofra Archer was bowling the occasional rocket, and England were about to wrap up a much-needed series victory over Pakistan. The ground wasn’t full – it’s harder to sell day-four tickets in advance these days – and you couldn’t help the feeling that the denouement was a little, well, flat. Yes, the home crowd enjoyed the win. They’d have liked a bit more contest too.

Instead, it was the Pakistan Cricket Board that delivered the fifth-day drama, issuing an immediate recall of nearly half the team as if they were a bad batch of eggs. Perhaps some will see it as the decisive display of authority that Aaqib Javed, Pakistan’s director of high performance, would like them to give. For others, well-versed in the board’s volatile leadership, it’s just the PCB doing PCB things.

Continue reading...

Taking on more responsibility as Sussex captain has helped revitalise the bowler’s career, but he cannot afford to take his foot off the gas

Last winter, Ollie Robinson and England were living separate lives on the same continent. To the cracking of crockery and gnashing of teeth, England played five Tests as Bazball imploded. Robinson meanwhile toddled off to play grade cricket for the University of Sydney with no thoughts of playing for England at all.

Eight months later, Robinson’s life has turned upside down. After being dropped in 2024 by England over his attitude to fitness and suspicions of malingering, he was suddenly in favour again. In his first Test back in June he galumphed in from the Nursery End at Lord’s and took three wickets in his first over, a nipped‑back lbw, a nipped‑back catch at short leg and then another lbw. Boy’s Own stuff. He finished with seven wickets in the Test, and an award for player of the match.

Continue reading...

• Interim coach Trescothick hopes for unchanged lineup

• England secured series win over Pakistan on Sunday

Marcus Trescothick is determined to sign off as England’s interim head coach with a 100% record and has no plans to meddle with a winning formula in next week’s final Test of the summer, despite securing the series win by beating Pakistan at Lord’s.

Two successful games into a series, the most likely cause of a lineup change would be fatigue, but Pakistan have not forced England to toil unduly over their two wins – last summer the average India innings lasted 107.5 overs; this summer Pakistan’s figure is 43.3. Meanwhile winning the second Test on day four means the players have nine clear days before action resumes at Edgbaston.

Continue reading...

Dom Bess is one of many in a long line of England spinners to struggle for a sustained run in Test cricket. Why is there no lasting solution?

It is the eighth over of South Africa’s first innings in Gqeberha in January 2020 when Joe Root tosses the ball to 22-year-old Dom Bess. Three overs later, the decision pays off.

With the final ball before drinks, Bess takes a return catch to dismiss Pieter Malan. In the final over before the close, he has Zubayr Hamza caught at short leg. The next morning, Bess removes Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen to become the first English spinner to take the first five wickets of an innings since Derek Underwood in 1975.

Continue reading...

Captain followed trend of discussing nightclub incidents rather than cricket before the second Test against Pakistan

England won the first game of their last Test series, against New Zealand at Lord’s, but between that match and the second Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were involved in a headline-grabbing incident at a London nightclub. “I’m angry, frustrated at having to sit here and talk through this,” Rob Key said a couple of days later.

“I feel disappointed that I’m here talking about this because there’s so much we’ve tried to do, so much we’ve tried to learn from, and I believe that as a team, the way they’ve carried themselves in the lead‑up to last week’s game, the way they played that Test match – to then be now talking about this, is just incredibly frustrating.”

Continue reading...

• Root says cricketers need to avoid ‘stupid mistakes’

• Carse dropped from squad following handcuffs incident

Joe Root has spoken of his desire to remodel England’s dressing room into a group that inspires “supporters to look at us and not just revere what we do on the field but off it as well” after the conduct of the nation’s cricketers was once again called into question following the emergence of videos showing Brydon Carse being escorted from a Derby nightclub in handcuffs late on Saturday night.

The England captain said he was “really hacked off” to be forced once again to address player behaviour, after a string of similar stories over the past eight months. But he repeatedly and pointedly referred to Carse’s misdemeanour, which led to the 31-year-old being briefly arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly before being de-arrested and released without charge, as an “isolated incident”.

Continue reading...

• Bowler spoken to by police outside bar in Derby

• Carse replaced in squad for second Test by Sonny Baker

Brydon Carse has been stood down from England’s squad for the second Test against Pakistan this week while the footage of him in police handcuffs outside a bar in Derby city centre is investigated by the sport’s disciplinary body.

Carse was filmed by a member of the public while he was detained briefly on suspicion of “being drunk and disorderly” outside Molly Malone’s Irish Tavern in the early hours of Sunday morning. The 31-year-old fast bowler had been celebrating victory against Derbyshire in the County Championship with his Durham teammates.

Continue reading...

For all the upheaval and neurosis, it may yet be that the darkest hour came just before dawn for this England team

To say England’s summer of Test cricket has not gone entirely to plan would be a bit of an understatement. At times it has been like watching Gromit frantically laying track in front of a runaway locomotive.

Even now the England and Wales Cricket Board find themselves throwing down the sleepers, reacting to footage of centrally-contracted Brydon Carse in police handcuffs outside a bar in Derby on Saturday night following a match for Durham. Whatever the precise details – Carse was released without charge – it continues a madcap season.

Continue reading...

• England fast bowler released without charge

• Incident happened in Derby as Durham celebrated win

Brydon Carse was handcuffed by police in Derby on Saturday as he became the latest England cricketer to become involved in a late-night incident.

A brief video on social media shows the fast bowler being apprehended by several police officers outside a nightclub as he celebrated Durham’s County Championship win over Derbyshire.

Continue reading...

Test captaincy came too soon for 27-year-old but Pakistan series is latest chapter in year that could be the making of him

You have to hand it to Bazball. Even when seemingly killed off, and the England team it left behind is thousands of miles away, preparing for a series against Pakistan, it has still managed to muscle its way into the fallout from Bangladesh’s seismic victory over Australia in Darwin. Talk about main character energy.

By definition, that nine-wicket victory for Bangladesh was no fluke. Najmul Hossain Shanto’s men didn’t jag a tight one but rather dominated their hosts over four days. And in doing so, they also managed to unite Ashes rivals by demonstrating what a golden opportunity England blew against Australia’s greybeards last winter.

Continue reading...

A trip to watch a strokeplay exhibition by England’s restored captain serves as a reminder of what can be lost amid the demands of leadership

My wife and I walked the kids down the hill to Edgbaston last Saturday afternoon, where our latest attempt at cricket indoctrination was the Birmingham Phoenix versus Welsh Fire game in the men’s Hundred.

Though a one-sided defeat for the hosts – the Phoenix women at least got the win earlier in the day – it was decent enough, with the youngest (six) the only one to get restless before some tactical popcorn lifted spirits towards the back end of the game. The kindness of strangers meant she was happy regardless, having been gifted two foam meerkat paws and a giant red/orange Phoenix flag that looks as if she now supports some obscure separatist movement in the Balkans.

Continue reading...

• Other demands meant he was unable to commit fully

• Mike Yardy will step in for upcoming Pakistan fixture

Andrew Flintoff has decided to step down as the head coach of England Lions with immediate effect before his winter spell working in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL).

The former all-rounder, 48, has been in charge of England’s second string since September 2024 and had been given the all-clear to leave this winter’s Lions tour of South Africa early to take up his new role at BBL side Sydney Thunder.

Continue reading...

What England’s former captain did – and didn’t – say in two-hour podcast interview with his old teammates Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler

Over the course of two hours chatting to his old friends Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler on their podcast, Ben Stokes sounded at peace with his decision to retire from England duty five weeks ago. Dare we say it, refreshed and ready to go again.

Beyond playing for Durham and in franchise cricket, Stokes is “definitely” retired, however, and there was not even a hint of a possible U-turn when the home Ashes rolls around next summer. Nor, given his character, was this first interview since calling it a day ever going to be one stuffed with regret.

Continue reading...

• Player has spoken for first time since he quit Test cricket

• Former captain expresses surprise Brook not given post

Ben Stokes has trained his sights on becoming England head coach in the future and expressed concerns about Joe Root’s impending second stint as Test captain.

In his first interview since retiring from England duty back in June – a two-hour chat with former teammates Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler on the For The Love Of Cricket Podcast, Stokes once again ruled out returning for next summer’s Ashes.

Continue reading...