Category: England National Cricket

England chased down the biggest fourth innings target in their Test history to beat India by seven wickets and square the postponed series at 2-2. England stood at 259-3 overnight, with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow having already put on 150 for the fourth wicket. The pair knocked off the required 119 runs with ease, Root finishing on 142 not out and Bairstow 114 not out, as England reached 378 for three and the match was concluded half an hour before lunch. Root crafted his fifth Test hundred of the year, while Bairstow’s purple patch continued with a second century of the Test and fourth in his last five innings. Root said after the match: 'It's like how it felt when I first started playing.'

• Root and Bairstow ease England to record run chase against India
• Stokes wants England to be rock stars, says Root as India are left all shook up
• England beat India by seven wickets with record chase to draw series – as it happened

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Jonny Bairstow was keen to play down his pointed conversation with Virat Kohli during the tense morning session after Kohli shushed the Yorkshireman at the fall of his wicket. “Nah, literally nothing to it,” he said. “Two very competitive people out on the field doing what they love, 11 guys that are very passionate about their country. It was great craic out there. I hope that clears it up.”

• Jonny Bairstow ready for England to chase any India total in fifth Test

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• All-rounder will leave Worcestershire after 15 years at club
• England player came through academy at Warwickshire

Moeen Ali is expected to knock back a bumper contract offer from Yorkshire and complete a return to Warwickshire at the end of the season.

The England all-rounder, 35, is coming to the end of a five-year deal he signed at Worcestershire in 2017 and is poised to leave New Road this winter after a 15-year association with the club. There has been strong interest in Moeen since 1 June – the date after which counties are allowed to speak to out-of-contract players – and a particularly enticing offer on the table from Yorkshire.

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The former head coach on the glorious dynamic he shared with ‘top notch’ Eoin Morgan, who has stood down as white-ball captain

A chat with Trevor Bayliss about Eoin Morgan’s England retirement begins with a practically audible wry smile down the phone line when the former head coach brings up the Test team’s daredevil approach during the 3-0 win against New Zealand.

“The interesting thing will be when it doesn’t work and whether you blokes get stuck into them for playing too many bloody shots,” says Bayliss from his home in New South Wales on the day Morgan announced his news. “Even during the Ashes [last winter], the English commentators were saying their players were getting bogged down and needed to be more proactive, play a few shots. Mate, where was that the previous few years? All I got was: ‘They’re playing too many.’”

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• Uncapped Richard Gleeson included for T20 series
• Dawid Malan keeps T20 place but misses out on ODI squad

The in-form Yorkshire batter Harry Brook has been named in England’s squads for their Twenty20 and one-day international series against India this month.

Matt Parkinson has also been drafted in as fellow leg-spinner Adil Rashid will miss both series after being given permission by the England and Wales Cricket Board to make the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

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• Buttler promoted after seven years as vice-captain
• Ben Stokes describes ‘huge leader and role model’

Jos Buttler will “take his game to a new level”, predicted Rob Key, after the 31-year-old was named as Eoin Morgan’s replacement as the captain of England’s white-ball team.

Buttler has been promoted from the vice-captaincy having initially been given that role – at Morgan’s request – before the 2015 ODI World Cup. He was only 24 at the time, and his captaincy experience amounted to one game for Somerset’s second XI and another for England Under-18s. “Jos has been an unbelievably good vice-captain while I’ve been captain,” Morgan said. “When he’s stepped in he’s been an exceptional leader, and within the group he commands tremendous respect.”

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• Former England cricket captain leaves BBC ‘for the time being’
• BBC ‘respect’ decision but say Vaughan remains under contract

Michael Vaughan has made the decision to “step back from work with the BBC” in light of the “ongoing dialogue” around the former England cricket captain’s broadcasting role with Test Match Special for the three-Test series against New Zealand.

Vaughan was dropped from coverage of the Ashes last November after he was accused by several players of making a racist comment before a Yorkshire game in 2009. He has repeatedly and categorically denied doing so.

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England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan insisted now was 'the right time' to step down as he announced his retirement from international cricket. Morgan has revolutionised England's limited-overs fortunes, leading them from also-rans at the 2015 World Cup to champions for the first time four years later. But he has been beset by form and fitness issues over the last 12 months and, despite an ambition to lead the side at the T20 World Cup this autumn, the 35-year-old has ultimately decided to walk away. Jos Buttler is widely expected to step up from his position as deputy to lead the white-ball sides, although the England and Wales Cricket Board has made no mention of who Morgan's replacement will be.

• ‘The right time’: Eoin Morgan confirms international cricket retirement

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• World Cup-winning captain revolutionised white-ball sides
• Jos Buttler expected to step up from position of deputy

Eoin Morgan had no thoughts of retirement when he went to bed after the second one-day international against the Netherlands.

Next morning his thinking had changed so abruptly and irreversibly that the idea of making just one more international appearance, to add to the 356 games he played for England across three formats and 13 years, would make him “feel like an impostor”.

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Jonny Bairstow and Matthew Potts burned brightest for an England team fired up by Ben Stokes

By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog

Ben Stokes: 194 runs at 48.5; three wickets at 75; five catches
For 10 years or so Ben Stokes played cricket with a snarl and a swear, but McCullumism has transformed that expression to a grin and a giggle. Of course that’s easier when you’re winning, but it’s a start beyond anyone’s dreams. The grumbling last month about the captain and coach’s lack of experience is now a very distant memory. As is the case with his batting and bowling, Stokes doesn’t always attack in the field but, when he does, he attacks hard with bowlers supported by close fielders and batters given plenty to think about. He also trusts his instincts when it comes to bowling changes, with no set hierarchies about new balls or choices of ends and an evident willingness to spring a surprise with early spin. His bowling lacked some of its threat (perhaps the workload over the years is catching up with him) and his batting veered between the sublime and the ridiculous (sometimes within the same over), but his impact as captain has covered all that and more. Grade A-

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• Coach wants England to maintain full-throttle approach
• ‘I hope we take it too far, then we’ll know where that line is’

Brendon McCullum fancies England’s ultra-aggressive start to life under Ben Stokes has set alarm bells ringing in dressing rooms around the world, with the new head coach hoping his players now push the limits of what is possible.

Hot on the heels of the 3-0 clean-sweep over the world champions, New Zealand, comes the rearranged fifth Test against India at Edgbaston on Friday and another chance for England’s players – their batting lineup in particular – to go on the offensive.

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• New Zealand 329 & 326 v England 360 & 296-3
• Yorkshire duo storm to seven-wicket win in third Test

Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root completed England’s third blistering chase in a row to kick off their riotous new era under Brendon McCullum with a series whitewash over New Zealand at Headingley.

Root barely broke a sweat as he finished with 86 not out and fellow Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow continued the form of his life as he crashed an unbeaten 77 to seal a seven-wicket win and a 3-0 scoreline. In keeping with their astonishing efforts over the past month, England needed just 15.2 overs and a shade over an hour to score the 113 runs required for victory, with a pair of local boys fittingly at the fore.

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• White-ball captain expected to confirm decision on Tuesday
• Lack of form and fitness cited as main reasons for retirement

Eoin Morgan will return on Tuesday to the scene of the World Cup triumph he masterminded three years ago and call time on an England career that will go down in history as one of the most significant of the modern era.

As first revealed by the Guardian, the 35-year-old is poised to confirm his retirement from all forms of international cricket at a press conference at Lord’s on Tuesday afternoon after accepting defeat in his recent battle with form and fitness.

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• Matthew Mott full of praise for ‘inspirational’ white-ball captain
• Morgan was dismissed for ducks in first two Netherlands ODIs

England’s new white-ball coach, Matthew Mott, gave his backing to his captain, Eoin Morgan, after England’s 3-0 thrashing of the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Morgan’s dismissal for ducks in the opening two games of the series before sitting out the third with a tight groin raised questions over his position but Mott believes those failures with the bat will “light the fire” for the summer ahead.

“He’d love more runs, most batters do. In over 200 games he’s been a very, very good player and I don’t think that’s going to change,” said Mott, sunglasses firmly on, as Dutch children clamoured for autographs after another six-hitting spree on Wednesday.

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Twins Craig and Jamie Overton said their sibling rivalry will make them extra competitive on the pitch after Jamie's call-up to the England squad for the third and final Test against New Zealand. The 28-year-olds are part of a 14-man squad for the Headingley Test, and could become the first twins to play Test cricket together for England. The competition between the two is almost life long after 'hours of practise as children' but Craig looks forward to playing 'together for probably the first time'.

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