Test captain Ben Stokes turned to his side’s replacement spinner on day two against New Zealand – with mixed resultsBy three o’clock in the afternoon the match was just starting to drag. The first day and a half of this Test unspooled at such a frantic pace that the burgeoning stand between Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell seemed to make everyone feel a little restless and uncomfortable, as if Lord’s was caught in an awkward silence that had stretched on too long.They’d only been going an hour, routine business in any other Test, but this one’s run in fast forward. The way they’ve been going at about it in this match makes Test cricket feel like trying to ride a...
Bowling attack of two old masters and one new star undo New Zealand before hosts’ batsmen come unstuck themselvesA reverend, a rabbi and a Buddhist nun walked into Lord’s. No joke. They were all taking part in a multi‑faith celebration of cricket organised during the lunch interval by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s outgoing CEO, Tom Harrison. It was billed as a demonstration of English cricket’s ability to bring people together. Out on the field, England’s bowlers were doing a pretty good job of that too.The stands were full, the sun was out, and the grass underneath it brilliant green. Jimmy Anderson was on from one end, Stuart Broad the other, the slips were catching bullets and New Zealand...
MCC wanted pomp and patriotism, but on a breathless day of action it was the cricket that took centre stageAs the wickets clattered across a wild, error‑strewn opening day of England’s international summer, the cricket offered more than enough entertainment to engross a near-capacity crowd at Lord’s. Which was perhaps just as well, given that the promised sideshows proved underwhelming.Attendees had been asked to wear the colours of the British flag, and perhaps there were a few more union jack jackets and ties than on a typical day at the Test, a scattering of patriotic formalwear to clash with MCC’s traditional bacon and eggs, but of the expected off-field themes jubilee-weekend enthusiasm was as hard to spot as the heavily...
England will benefit from the former New Zealand captain’s experience but improvement will also rely on ECBThere is an old story about a Somerset team meeting sometime in the 1980s, when they were struggling to come up with plans for how to bowl to the other side’s batsmen. “Easy,” Ian Botham said about the first opener, “I’ll bounce him out.” As for the second: “I’ll bounce him too.” It was the same for the No 3. And the No 4. And so on right through the order. “Bounce him”, “bounce him”, “bounce him”. It can be a simple game when you’re that good at it. It reminded me of a conversation I had with Andrew Flintoff last year. “Let’s be...
Young players need to be integrated slowly for best chance of success so putting Root and Bairstow lower down defies logicThe first Test of the summer and of a new era starts against New Zealand on Thursday at Lord’s. Some will be expecting instant results from the new coach, Brendon McCullum, and his captain, Ben Stokes – after all, when the white-ball reset was triggered after the humiliation of the 2015 ODI World Cup, in England’s next match on home soil, also against New Zealand, they scored more than 400 runs for the first time and set out on a path that ended in them winning the World Cup four years later.The progress was remarkable, with a strategy of ultra-aggressive...