Bazball’s moment of truth arrives in year that will define era of McCullum and Stokes

One-off Zimbabwe Test at Trent Bridge the launchpad for a decisive summer for England and their abstemious captain

So where are we up to right now? Still Bazball 2.0? The start of Bazball 3.0? Given Ben Stokes has knocked the grog on the head this year, perhaps it should be Bazball 0.0% ABV.

Although, jokes aside, that recent revelation on one of those man-chat podcasts said a fair bit about Stokes’s nature. Not only has he temporarily paused drinking during his recovery from hamstring surgery but, so taken by this, he has even bought shares in an alcohol-free spirits company. England’s Test captain is someone who, when he sets his mind on something, sees it through to the extreme. Even abstinence.

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Ben Stokes targets No 1 spot in world Test rankings: ‘One more place to go’

  • Ashes rivals Australia sit above England in ICC table
  • Zimbabwe Test is captain’s first action since December

England under Ben Stokes have never lacked ambition, but they go into a defining period of Test cricket with one in particular in mind: to become the first England side in 15 years to take top spot in the International Cricket Council’s rankings – officially the best in the world.

“If we win what we’ve got coming up, the likelihood is that we will be at the top of that leaderboard,” Stokes said. “There’s no doubt in my mind we have the ability to be that team.”

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County cricket talking points: Notts stay top but Surrey are on the prowl

Nottinghamshire remain top of Division One after defeat at Durham but, cue the Jaws music, the champions are coming

By the 99.94 Cricket Blog

At the end of day one, Haseeb Hameed had carried his bat for 206, his team had posted more than 400 and Nottinghamshire’s position at the top of Division One was secure. At the end of day four, all of that was still true but quite a lot had happened in-between.

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Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams: ‘It’s been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs – mainly downs’

All-rounder has been playing for his country – on and off – for 20 years and is relishing Thursday’s Test in England

In a Zimbabwe squad not exactly packed with experience – only three of its 16 members have played as many Tests as the 21‑year‑old English spinner Shoaib Bashir – Sean Williams is the most glaring of exceptions. When Jimmy Anderson took off his England cap for the final time last summer, 21 years, six months and 27 days after his debut, Williams took over as the cricketer with the longest ongoing international career: by the final day of the one-off Test at Trent Bridge this week he will be able to look back at precisely 20 years and three months at the highest rung of the cricketing ladder.

And still he is breaking new ground: England, who have not played Zimbabwe in any format since 2003, would be the 28th opponents of his international career, taking him two short of the world record held by the retired Kenyan Collins Obuya. “Definitely for me as an individual, it makes it massive,” he says.

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