Category: England Cricket

Lancashire and England opening bowler who played in the victorious England Ashes side of 1971

Peter Lever, who has died aged 84, was a fast-medium bowler for Lancashire for 17 years and for England in 17 Test matches. In many ways he was the epitome of the staunch English professional cricketer, dedicated, modest and devoted to the game he loved. And yet throughout his career he experienced moments way beyond the norm, one of which was harrowing in the extreme.

He toured Australia twice, under the captaincy of Ray Illingworth in 1970-71 when England regained the Ashes with Lever playing in five of the six Tests, and then on the less successful expedition under Mike Denness four years later, during which an unsuspecting England team was confronted by the combination of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson for the first time. It was just after that series when a battered England side had moved on to New Zealand that Lever had the most traumatic experience of his life.

• Opener insists results matter despite comments in India
• Duckett clarifies social media posts on Jasprit Bumrah

Ben Duckett has said England’s humbling experiences in India and at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan “hurt me so much” and that he hopes they can make amends this summer.

England have lost 10 out of 11 white-ball matches since the turn of the year, including all three at the Champions Trophy to finish bottom of their group, triggering the resignation of Jos Buttler as captain.

Instincts are to protect England’s Test captain, but he’s the functioning brain of Bazball. It’s hard to think of anyone better to lead the ODI team

This column is about the rise of high-end supermarket cheddar cheese that has delicious and addictive crunchy crystals in it. What are these exactly? And is everything just basically crisps now? This column is about the MCC being needlessly given tens of millions of pounds because the England and Wales Cricket Board sold a hat that isn’t really a hat, just the promise of a brightly coloured future-hat.

This column is about cricket umpires being reduced progressively to a theatre of facial expressions, from the brave, wounded “you’re on screen, please reverse your decision”, to the screw-you triumphalism of the confirmatory finger to an empty set of stumps. Michael Caine once said that while doing a closeup you should always stare at a fixed point, always into one eye not both eyes of your scene partner. Do we need to train Joel Wilson in this?

• England set for white-ball reset after Buttler resignation
• Key says it would be ‘stupid’ not to consider Stokes

Rob Key could offer Ben Stokes the chance to take on the captaincy of England’s one-day team – and potentially put Harry Brook in charge of the T20 side – after admitting it would be “stupid” not to consider his Test talisman for an expanded role.

Speaking at Lord’s on Thursday, less than a week after England completed their winless Champions Trophy campaign, the director of men’s cricket held his hands up to “a lot of errors”. There was also an admission his players lacked the competitiveness that Stokes brings.

• England captain to prioritise fitness for Australia series
• Moeen Ali also withdraws and retires from county game

Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali have both withdrawn from this year’s Hundred. England’s Test captain has chosen to focus on his fitness and his duties with the red ball, and Moeen has decided to retire from county cricket so he can grasp the opportunities offered by global franchise leagues.

The competition has brought only bad luck to Stokes, who in five appearances has scored only 14 runs at an average of 3.50 and sustained one serious hamstring injury, while playing for Northern Superchargers last August. That pulled muscle kept him out of all cricket for two months and, after a recurrence while playing for England in New Zealand late last year, he required surgery from which he is recovering.

Pakistan have a potentially destructive pace attack, Australia have been weakened and Afghanistan will debut

As defeats pile up Brendon McCullum’s brand of cricket now has the feel of a cool music video on the deck of a sinking ship

Two summers ago, with interest in the England Test team’s seductive new energy reaching an early peak, I wrote an article suggesting that Bazball was a cult.

There were some parts of the clinical definition of a cult that seemed analogous. A sense of mission. Charismatic, dominant individuals in charge. Presents itself as innovative and elitist. Aggressively hostile towards any kind of outside questioning.

• ECB chair condemns ‘oppression of women and girls’
• But no ‘unilateral’ action for the Champions Trophy tie

England have confirmed they will play Afghanistan in the upcoming Champions Trophy despite pressure to boycott the fixture in response to the Taliban’s violation of women’s rights in the country.

Last month a cross-party group of 160 British MPs wrote to the England and Wales Cricket Board urging it to withdraw the men’s national team from their group stage match against Afghanistan in Lahore on 26 February.

• Controversial substitution lifts India but tourists collapse
• Women’s Ashes: Sutherland turns the screw on England

Tilak Varma is the new batter, which is a deviation from their coach Gautam Gambhir’s preference for a left/right combination.

He’s the old batter, too, because he’s gone first ball! Varma charged Saqib and sliced the ball down to third man, where Archer took an excellent low catch. Saqib Mahmood has figures of 0.2-0-0-2!

An outstanding bowling performance, led by Adil Rashid, gave England a stirring victory in Rajkot

2nd over: England 12-1 (Duckett 6, Buttler 1) A leg-stump inswinger is put away for four by Duckett. The sliding Washington got a touch on the ball but couldn’t stop it.

Phil Salt’s struggles continue. He smashes an off-cutter from Hardik straight to extra cover, where Abhishek takes a sharp catch with nonchalant ease. His weight wasn’t fully forward, possibly because the previous delivery was a sharp bouncer.

Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer were the only plusses as England were hammered in Brendon McCullum’s first game as white-ball coach

The left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, an outstanding bowler in this format, will take the first over.

Phil Salt and Ben Duckett are ready to go. It’s time for episode one of the ECB’s new spin-off, Bazball Nights.

• England face Afghanistan in Champions Trophy
• ICC called on to ‘intervene and show global leadership’

The England and Wales Cricket Board has called on cricket’s governing body to show leadership by taking coordinated action to stop “the gender apartheid facing the 14 million women in Afghanistan”.

In a letter to the International Cricket Council on Friday, the ECB’s chief executive, Richard Gould, also urged it “to find a solution that provides hope that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan can be restored”.

• Afghanistan to feature at upcoming Champions Trophy
• England and South Africa are in group with Afghanistan

South Africa’s sports minister has joined calls for a boycott of Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, adding his voice to those of British politicians who have called on England not to play them next month.

England and South Africa share the same group with Afghanistan in the competition and are under pressure to boycott the fixtures in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights since returning to power in August 2021. South Africa are scheduled to open their Champions Trophy against Afghanistan in Karachi on 21 February but McKenzie urged his country’s cricket governing body not to honour the fixture.