England Cricket 2026

Addick Addict

lolwray said:

Addick Addict said:

Former England goalkeeper, Nigel Martyn, has been named in England's Over 60s Lions cricket squad for the 2026 summer

Yes I noticed that ..just assumed it was a different Nigel Martyn ...trivia quiz questions incoming 

Unsurprisingly, he's a wicket keeper! Competition for the spot will come from the other keepers in the 26 man squad including Bexley's Gary Joyce.

golfaddick

MarcusH26 said:

Addick Addict said:

James Rew is 22 and hit his 12th FC hundred today in 96 career innings. Only Tendulkar and Bradman had more at the same age and that's the same number as Zak Crawley has from 251 innings.  

Rew  - Would love to see him debut this summer but just can't quite fit him into the current lineup. Awesome talent. 

Thought I'd resurrect this having just seen a piece on the cricket section on BBC Sport and having the same dilemma as you.

Squad soon to be announced for the Test series against NZ. Looks like Crawley could (should?) be dropped and some new openers being mentioned. If the selectors are brave and also drop Duckett then am I mad in thinking it could be a good idea to pick 2 openers who are currently doing well AND play together in the same County side.......namely Gay & McKinney from Durham.

But Rew deserves a chance too but not to pick him as an opener as that was tried recently & failed. So can England pick 2 new openers, Rew & still have Root, Bethel, Brook & Stokes....and of course Smith.

Maybe drop Bethel seeing as once again he's playing IPL and not any red ball cricket. 

fenaddick

They aren’t going to drop Duckett, especially as he got a century this match 

MarcusH26

fenaddick

Squad announced for New Zealand. No Crawley. Gay, Rew, Baker & Fisher are the new(ish) names with Robinson and Ahmed returning

Ben Stokes (Durham) - Captain
Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire)
Gus Atkinson (Surrey)
Sonny Baker (Hampshire)
Shoaib Bashir (Derbyshire)
Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Matthew Fisher (Surrey)
Emilio Gay (Durham)
James Rew (Somerset)
Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Jamie Smith (Surrey)
Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)

MrOneLung

nooooo...

Gravesend_Addick

Interesting squad that.  I'm wondering if North will be a 'no nonsense' selector.

I certainly hope so!

Addick Addict

Bethell will go into the Test series on the back of not having played a single red ball match this summer and on the back of, to date, scoring a total of 70 runs in the IPL. 

Addick Addict

And Archer isn't available for the First Test because of the IPL

Leuth

Fisher over C Overton and Bashir over Bess or Crane are the weird ones there. I guess they couldn't call up Robinson AND Coverton, just too much dickhead in one place 

Leuth

Bess, Crane OR Carson, actually 

killerandflash

Gay to open, Rew the reserve batsman I assume, though he could also challenge Smith for the gloves.

Fisher's selection not based on form this season.

Steven81

killerandflash said:

Gay to open, Rew the reserve batsman I assume, though he could also challenge Smith for the gloves.

Fisher's selection not based on form this season.

MarcusH26

https://www.utilitabowl.com/cricket/news/liam-dawson-retires-from-first-class-cricket/

Liam Dawson retires from all First Class cricket with immediate effect. 

Addick Addict

Key has said that Gay will open, Rew is a backup batter and that there is no guarantee they will play a spinner.

Assuming they do go without a spinner, then the line up for the First Test will probably look something like this:

Duckett
Gay
Bethell
Root
Brook
Stokes (C)
Smith (WK)
Atkinson
Robinson
Tongue
Baker

 

Leuth

I'd have a spinner (probably Ahmed) in for Atkinson or Baker there myself, but yeah it isn't happening is it 

killerandflash

The Test is still 3 weeks away, I never understand why they announce the team so early now.

lolwray

I wouldn't select Bethell or Archer (when he returns) until they've played a couple of County games...yep I know call me old fashioned 

Addick Addict

England Women have appointed Sarah Taylor as specialist fielding coach. What is it about the ECB not recognising that there are three disciplines to the game of cricket - we saw with the men that it took a series of mishaps for them to re-appoint one. 

Edit - ignore. See below. 

MrOneLung

Thought it was England men not women who appointed her? 

Addick Addict

MrOneLung said:

Thought it was England men not women who appointed her? 

So it is. Hopkinson, the previous Men's fielding coach who was re-instated, is at the IPL. Does that mean that the Women still don't have one? Sky highlighted more than a dozen mistakes in the last ODI and their fielding, generally, in the last two years has been woeful so it's not a question whether they need one or not.  

killerandflash

Appointing Rob Key as the women's diet and fitness coach was perhaps a mistake too.

blackpool72

lolwray said:

I wouldn't select Bethell or Archer (when he returns) until they've played a couple of County games...yep I know call me old fashioned 

Couldn't agree more. 
Absolutely no chance they are prepared for Test match cricket. 
At least a couple of games for their counties first imo is needed. 

Fanny Fanackapan

blackpool72 said:

lolwray said:

I wouldn't select Bethell or Archer (when he returns) until they've played a couple of County games...yep I know call me old fashioned 

Couldn't agree more. 
Absolutely no chance they are prepared for Test match cricket. 
At least a couple of games for their counties first imo is needed. 

Clearly no joined up thinking.

Steven81

blackpool72 said:

lolwray said:

I wouldn't select Bethell or Archer (when he returns) until they've played a couple of County games...yep I know call me old fashioned 

Couldn't agree more. 
Absolutely no chance they are prepared for Test match cricket. 
At least a couple of games for their counties first imo is needed. 

Bit like our non existent warm up schedule for the last ashes going into first tests undercooked as usual,really can't stand key or mcullum tbh when it comes to the England team.

MarcusH26

England Lions squad for 2 4 day games against South Africa A at Arundel and Beckenham. 

England Lions 15-player four-day squad:
Dan Mousley (Warwickshire – captain)
Charlie Allison (Essex)
Henry Crocombe (Sussex – second four-day match)
Eddie Jack (Hampshire)
Ben Geddes (Middlesex)
Ben Mayes (Hampshire)
Ben McKinney (Durham)
Tom Lawes (Surrey)
Alfie Ogborne (Somerset – first four-day match)
Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire)
James Sales (Northamptonshire)
Naavya Sharma (Middlesex)
Mitchell Stanley (Lancashire)
Asa Tribe (Glamorgan)
James Wharton (Yorkshire)

LenGlover

Wasn’t Ogborne on loan at Kent? Didn’t do much from what I recall 

Todds_right_hook

Ben is a very popular name for a cricketer 

Addick Addict

LenGlover said:

Wasn’t Ogborne on loan at Kent? Didn’t do much from what I recall 

Two years ago he was on loan at Kent and picked up four quite expensive wickets in two games. He then went back to them on loan last season, along with Jake Ball and although Ball played two matches, Ogborne never got a game!

fenaddick

Semi related, over on TNT Rob Hatch is showing more cricket knowledge while covering the cycling today than he did during The Ashes