I note the Kookaburra ball experiment is no more, it will be Dukes throughout.
There is also a trial of injury subs. An injured player can be replaced for the rest if the game. Has to be a ‘like for like’ player approved by the umpires, and the subbed player must not play again for 8 days. Seems quite sensible, and shouldn’t be open to abuse.
My club cricket season starts in 2 weeks. That was believable yesterday 
. But not today 
.
Bruce
Ben Foakes today. 124 off 195 balls, no stupid shots, and is the best with the gloves in the country.
Exactly the sort of rubbish England don’t want. Lol.
I was thinking the same!
I see Jamie Smith scored 132 off 261 balls yesterday.
Good to see there is more to his game than “six and out”.
His challenge is that he doesn’t “keep” for Surrey.
Unlike Ben Foakes, who also scored a few, and does!
Smith crumbled in the Ashes. Foakes would be my Test pick. Mind you he might just tell them where to stick it if they call him up, with some justification.
Bruce
Foakes would be my pick as well. Smith has shown he is not a great, or even good keeper, so he has to play as a batter if good enough imho. We will see.
I’ve always had a lot of sympathy for Foakes as I don’t think he did anything wrong. It’s unfortunate that England doesn’t have a very good spinner that warrants the inclusion of your best keeper. Perhaps if Ahmed is included in the near future Foakes might be appreciated at last.
Agree, but in the Ashes Carey showed the value of a great ‘keeper with a seam attack too, quite often creating issues for batsmen when stood up to the stumps. Smith also appears pretty passive in the field. I think the ‘keeper should be noisy and a bit of a cheerleader as well as giving the bowlers and captain important feedback.
Bruce
IMO, Smith is following the Bairstow ‘keeping experiment. Having started off well, his defence (a gaping gate) has been exposed on the less-than-flat surfaces. Of course, if we had a strong 1/2/3/5, there wouldn’t be the need to play a supposed batsman/WK. I’d rather play the best ‘keeper, especially one who can contribute and should show a more resolute defence.
aka Ben Foakes!
It would be interesting to get Alec Stewart’s view of things, having played the batsman/WK role. A few years ago he was very firm in his views that it’s up to the top-6 to get the bulk of the runs.
BF would appear the best choice now, although I understand there are a couple of other ’keepers about now who are developing.
Awesome Glen Baxter
Sooryavanshi is a phenomenal talent. Another 50 from 15 balls in today’s IPL match, 18 in an over from Hazelwood and 16 from the next from Bumrah. As he turned 15 a few weeks ago he’s now eligible for India’s senior team, I wonder if they’ll pick him this young.
I think he was a “Substitute”. Nonsense in my view. No future for all-rounders?
Words not being minced!!
When you look at the ECB, it’s not a large organisation in managerial terms, a model which can often lead to an absence of accountability. IMHO, this was shown-up when they were dealing with the YCCC affair, and the subsequent ‘prosecutions’ of MV et al.
Put another way, the ECB goldfish bowl is very small compared to the environment which surrounds them. And many who are on the outside are used to operating with much greater accountability, especially given the rewards in play.
There seems to be more talk about success at County level giving opportunities to play for England this summer.
There is a youngish lad at Lancs chucking his hat into the ring. Worth keeping an eye on him. Lol.
| Player | Span | Mat | Inns | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Ave | Econ | SR | 5 | 10 | Ct | St |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JM Anderson | 2026-2026 | 3 | 6 | 99.5 | 29 | 254 | 21 | 5/66 | 12.09 | 2.54 | 28.5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Nah. Just a flash in the pan. He won’t amount to anything. 
