England Cricket 2026

Covered End · June 29

Man of the series -
Brendon McCallum for New Zealand.

KBslittlesis · June 29

Sorry New Zealand for showing zero class against you in this series.
Cricket supposed to be a team game ffs.

Embarrasing.

killerandflash · June 29

The ECB have some massive decisions to make, as if we just continue to play Bazball, but without Stokes, we'll be even worse.

Surely it's got to be terminal for this regime to lose this match so badly against New Zealand's second string bowling attack. A cricket country with a fraction of the resources the ECB have, but one which maximises its performances. Our batting last night was ludicrous, the rest of the world are laughing at us.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5000498/uploads/editor/ld/wr1xt46kjsph.png

Phil · June 29

Archer England’s player of the series with a massive 11 wickets from two tests! When interviewed about the award Jofra said “ this is as much for me as the team “ ! Arghhh!

MarcusH26 · June 29

killerandflash said:

The ECB have some massive decisions to make, as if we just continue to play Bazball, but without Stokes, we'll be even worse.

Surely it's got to be terminal for this regime to lose this match so badly against New Zealand's second string bowling attack. A cricket country with a fraction of the resources the ECB have, but one which maximises its performances. Our batting last night was ludicrous, the rest of the world are laughing at us.

I usually disagree with Vaughan because it feels like a lot of his comments are meant to get clicks on socials. However he's nailed it there, it's got to be a total reset. No Key, No Baz , re-establish the link to county cricket and make the Lions a proper England A and not a U23 this guy looks good on YouTube side.

DennisBooth · June 29

I thought Key and McCallum should have gone after the Aussie series. I don’t how they can continue after this Series defeat. We need to ditch Bazball and play proper Test Match cricket.

fenaddick · June 29

Not that it's hugely relevant but Stokes has said he thinks Brook should take over the captaincy

Addick Addict · June 29

The one thing that is obvious from the averages for this series is that the bowling, when they were available to play, of Robinson, Archer, Atkinson, Stokes and Fisher stands up to scrutiny whereas the batting simply does not.

Duckett was the only player to score a ton for us whereas Phillips, Nicholls, Mitchell, Conway and Latham all did so. It is that lack of desire to "dig in" and put a value on a wicket that has been our undoing, not just here but in many other recent series. The talent is there but all the time we bat irresponsibly and not according to the state of the game, it will always be thus.

Batting averages:

Phillips (NZ) 60.33
Fisher (Eng) 50.00
Nicholls (NZ) 49.25
Mitchell (NZ) 47.00
Duckett (Eng) 41.00
Conway (NZ) 37.33
Ravindra (NZ) 36.33
Brook (Eng) 36.16
Latham (NZ) 31.50
Jamieson (NZ) 30.33
Root (Eng) 28.50
Cox (Eng) 26.00
Smith (Eng) 25.25
Gay (Eng) 23.16
Blundell (NZ) 20.50
Rew (Eng) 19.50
Sears (NZ) 19.00
Bethell (Eng) 17.16
Atkinson (Eng) 15.00
Robinson (Eng) 15.00
Stokes (Eng) 14.25
Bashir (Eng) 14.00
Smith (NZ) 11.33
Williamson (NZ) 9.00
Archer (Eng) 6.25
Foulkes (NZ) 6.00
O'Rourke (NZ) 5.00
Tongue (Eng) 4.00
Baker (Eng) 4.00
Santner (NZ) 2.00
Henry (NZ) 1.50
Tickner (NZ) N/A

Bowling averages:

Robinson (Eng) 11.00
Henry (NZ) 13.33
Foulkes (NZ) 14.50
Atkinson (Eng) 16.80
Stokes (Eng) 21.85
Archer (Eng) 22.81
Smith (NZ) 23.00
Bethell (Eng) 23.25
Fisher (Eng) 24.00
Jamieson (NZ) 24.20
O'Rourke (NZ) 25.60
Root (Eng) 44.00
Bashir (Eng) 49.00
Tongue (Eng) 49.87
Baker (Eng) 53.66
Santner (NZ) 56.50
Sears (NZ) 85.00
Ravindra (NZ) N/A
Tickner (NZ) N/A

golfaddick · June 29

Covered End said:

Man of the series -
Brendon McCallum for New Zealand.

This is something I can never get my head round. Like Tuchel as manager of the men's football team.

What happens when you come up against the team of your birth / country you played for ? Where are your allegiances really? As an Englishman, if you were managing another country could you really be pleased to beat & knock out England ?

Lincsaddick · June 29

Addick Addict said:

The one thing that is obvious from the averages for this series is that the bowling, when they were available to play, of Robinson, Archer, Atkinson, Stokes and Fisher stands up to scrutiny whereas the batting simply did not.

Duckett was the only player to score a ton for us whereas Phillips, Nicholls, Mitchell, Conway and Latham all did so. It is that lack of desire to "dig in" and put a value on a wicket that has been our undoing, not just here but in many other recent series. The talent is there but all the time we bat irresponsibly and not according to the state of the game, it will always be thus.

Batting averages:

Phillips (NZ) 60.33
Fisher (Eng) 50.00
Nicholls (NZ) 49.25
Mitchell (NZ) 47.00
Duckett (Eng) 41.00
Conway (NZ) 37.33
Ravindra (NZ) 36.33
Brook (Eng) 36.16
Latham (NZ) 31.50
Jamieson (NZ) 30.33
Root (Eng) 28.50
Cox (Eng) 26.00
Smith (Eng) 25.25
Gay (Eng) 23.16
Blundell (NZ) 20.50
Rew (Eng) 19.50
Sears (NZ) 19.00
Bethell (Eng) 17.16
Atkinson (Eng) 15.00
Robinson (Eng) 15.00
Stokes (Eng) 14.25
Bashir (Eng) 14.00
Smith (NZ) 11.33
Williamson (NZ) 9.00
Archer (Eng) 6.25
Foulkes (NZ) 6.00
O'Rourke (NZ) 5.00
Tongue (Eng) 4.00
Baker (Eng) 4.00
Santner (NZ) 2.00
Henry (NZ) 1.50
Tickner (NZ) N/A

Bowling averages:

Robinson (Eng) 11.00
Henry (NZ) 13.33
Foulkes (NZ) 14.50
Atkinson (Eng) 16.80
Stokes (Eng) 21.85
Archer (Eng) 22.81
Smith (NZ) 23.00
Bethell (Eng) 23.25
Fisher (Eng) 24.00
Jamieson (NZ) 24.20
O'Rourke (NZ) 25.60
Root (Eng) 44.00
Bashir (Eng) 49.00
Tongue (Eng) 49.87
Baker (Eng) 53.66
Santner (NZ) 56.50
Sears (NZ) 85.00
Ravindra (NZ) N/A
Tickner (NZ) N/A

good post, BUT (there always is), you state'the talent is there' .. i m o talent is multi faceted. A good eye and technique are useless in test cricket unless they are allied with determination, stamina, patience and just 'grit. Our batting 'talents' and potential seem mostly more suited to 20/20 than 'proper' cricket.
A major worry is captaincy. Who ? .. Flash Arry Brook ?, Getting on a Bit Root ? .. no and no i m o .. the thing is who from the 'magic circle' could do the job ? Perhaps the circle needs to be broken and a top county captain let in. BUT, would he fit in with the chosen central contractors ? and of course which county captain ?

fenaddick · June 29

golfaddick said:

Covered End said:

Man of the series -
Brendon McCallum for New Zealand.

This is something I can never get my head round. Like Tuchel as manager of the men's football team.

What happens when you come up against the team of your birth / country you played for ? Where are your allegiances really? As an Englishman, if you were managing another country could you really be pleased to beat & knock out England ?

Think it's hard for us to understand how competitive these sportspeople competing at the top level are

LittleAddick · June 29

Saw a stat that said Stokes has a higher loss percentage as captain than Atherton and Hussain, and in modern times only Flintoff had a worse one.

Addick Addict · June 29

LittleAddick said:

Saw a stat that said Stokes has a higher loss percentage as captain than Atherton and Hussain, and in modern times only Flintoff had a worse one.

That's all down to Bazball. The converse of that is the fact that no other captain of England to have done the job 40 or more times has a higher win percentage. That stat does, indeed, mask the defeats especially in those games where, even if we might not have won, we might have drawn.

Stokes full record is:

Won 24
Lost 18
Drawn 2

Overall, the skipper with the best record to have done the job on at least 40 occasions is Vaughan:

Won 26
Lost 11
Drawn 14

And the one with the best to have done so for at least 20 Tests has to be Brearley:

Won 18
Lost 4
Drawn 9

killerandflash · June 29

Phil said:

Archer England’s player of the series with a massive 11 wickets from two tests! When interviewed about the award Jofra said “ this is as much for me as the team “ ! Arghhh!

Actually a really weird series to give awards too, as so few players have played well and for all 3 games.

Robinson MOTM in the 1st Test, injured for the 2nd and not picked for the 3rd
Henry injured for nearly all the 1st Test, MOTM in the 2nd, then injured for the 3rd.
Mitchell struggled in the first 2 Tests, MOTM in the 3rd.
Phillips really good in the first 2 Tests, injured in the 3rd.
Archer missed the 1st Test which England won, then played in 2 defeats...

Phil · June 29

killerandflash said:

Phil said:

Archer England’s player of the series with a massive 11 wickets from two tests! When interviewed about the award Jofra said “ this is as much for me as the team “ ! Arghhh!

Actually a really weird series to give awards too, as so few players have played well and for all 3 games.

Robinson MOTM in the 1st Test, injured for the 2nd and not picked for the 3rd
Henry injured for nearly all the 1st Test, MOTM in the 2nd, then injured for the 3rd.
Mitchell struggled in the first 2 Tests, MOTM in the 3rd.
Phillips really good in the first 2 Tests, injured in the 3rd.
Archer missed the 1st Test which England won, then played in 2 defeats...

Yeah as you allude to Archer’s efforts such as they were never were in a winning cause! Had he played some red ball cricket ahead of the first test test as well as playing in it then we might have done better. He couldn’t bowl at vital times and only looked anywhere decent in his last couple of spells.

England are in a total mess. They have a break now in test cricket and only a clean sweep and total rethink can give us any semblance of hope for the Ashes 27.

Chizz · June 29

golfaddick said:

Covered End said:

Man of the series -
Brendon McCallum for New Zealand.

This is something I can never get my head round. Like Tuchel as manager of the men's football team.

What happens when you come up against the team of your birth / country you played for ? Where are your allegiances really? As an Englishman, if you were managing another country could you really be pleased to beat & knock out England ?

You're right to highlight a rare situation where the coach of a national team is from another country.

Except, of course, that the majority of teams in the FIFA World Cup this year are managed by foreigners.

And both teams in this month's England v New Zealand series.

Karim_myBagheri · June 29

Fourth time in history that new Zealand have won in this country and yet all the talk is focused around stokes. Sad for cricket

LenGlover · June 29

Sarina Wiegman in the England Women has managed us against The Netherlands a number of times including the vital group qualifying match in the Euros.

Covered End · June 29

Karim_myBagheri said:

They will put in a couple of new people in the management areas and stokes will be begged to come back as England's saviour for the ashes next year. Just like yesterday's over the top way of retiring from international cricket his return will be even more melodramatic.

I was thinking similar.
I'm not expecting Stokes to return, but I can see it's just the sort of thing he might do.

Covered End · June 29

Addick Addict said:

Listening to the NZ players talking about how ridiculous we were yesterday sums things up. Asking "what are they doing?" is a question that Stokes and McCullum will fudge with their usual BS. They've learnt nothing since that vital Ashes Test which we lost, with Lyon out of the game, because we kept taking on the short ball and Root thinking he was Jos Buttler ramping in the IPL. The direction from the management has been hopeless.

Exactly what I thought after McCallum spoke at the end.

He appears to have learnt absolutely nothing and suggested that the players decide their tactics and do whatever they please.

So what is the point of McCallum?

An arrogant fool, as Key appears to be as well.

Stokes makes a trio, but Stokes is/was our best captain and key player and could have remained if he had been managed properly.

Covered End · June 29

Addick Addict said:

Atherton sums it up so well "For England Bazball dies where it all began". Here's hoping it really is dead.

It was brain dead from the start.

Covered End · June 29

DennisBooth said:

I thought Key and McCallum should have gone after the Aussie series. I don’t how they can continue after this Series defeat. We need to ditch Bazball and play proper Test Match cricket.

Everyone I speak to and all the cricket experts I read, said the same.

England Cricket 2026

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