Ben Stokes returns as captain for England’s three-Test tour of Pakistan next month while Brydon Carse could make his debut just weeks after completing a ban for breaches of betting rules. sStokes will skipper the side after missing the 2-1 home series win against Sri Lanka with a hamstring injury. Opener Zak Crawley is also in the squad announced on Tuesday after missing the same series with a broken finger.

Bowling all-rounder Carse, who returned to action in late August after serving a three-month ban for historical betting violations, appears to be the main beneficiary of a year-ending elbow injury to Durham team-mate and fellow quick Mark Wood.

The South Africa-born 29-year-old, who has featured in 17 white-ball internationals for England, takes his place in a 17-strong squad alongside another player yet to make his Test bow, Jordan Cox.

The tour is scheduled to get under way on October 7 in Multan.

There are due to be further Tests in Karachi and Rawalpindi but renovations ahead of next year’s Champions Trophy are causing problems at those venues.

One or more of the games could be moved to the United Arab Emirates or Sri Lanka.

Dan Lawrence, a makeshift opener against Sri Lanka in the absence of Crawley, has been dropped.

Young left-arm fast bowler Josh Hull has been retained while Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed — two spinners who featured in England’s historic 3-0 series whitewash over Pakistan in 2022 — are recalled.

Leach was displaced as England’s number one spinner this season by Shoaib Bashir but the Somerset pair, plus Leicestershire’s Ahmed, form Stokes’s trio of frontline slow bowling options.

England squad for three-match Test tour of Pakistan:

Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said Ben Duckett’s astonishing knock of 86 on day one of the third Test against Sri Lanka was yet another example of why the left-handed opener is at the heart of the side’s risk-taking attitude while batting. At The Oval, Duckett set the tone for England making 221/3 by hitting nine fours and two sixes in a 79-ball 86 to leave Sri Lanka dazed. “Let’s be honest, Sri Lanka were poor. It was almost like they’d never bowled to a left-hand, right-hand combination before, but Duckett never let them settle at all.”

“They kept bowling on the legs early on, or even outside the line of the pads, and then when they over-corrected, they were short and wide. Where does Duckett like the ball the most? Short and wide outside off-stump. He put them to the sword.”

“Later, after the rain delay, he started scooping and upper-cutting fours and sixes. Yes, scooping was his downfall in the end, but so be it, because it is his role in the side. I like his attitude because there have been plenty of opening batters before him that have come unstuck when not playing shots.”

“Sometimes coaches over-talk. One of yesteryear might have asked: why did you play that shot? A hundred was there for the taking. Not Brendon McCullum, though. They have an ingrained attitude to risk taking and Duckett is at the heart of it,” wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Saturday.

He also talked about how Duckett is different from other England batters as he attacks balls outside off-stump rather than leaving them. “By the time he had added 86 runs to his tally, Duckett had swelled his tally of balls played at this series to 197 of 198.”

“Contrast that to players like Graham Gooch and Michael Atherton, two more predecessors as England openers who would ignore deliveries outside off-stump and make the bowlers bowl in areas they wanted them to. Or compare Duckett to any other modern Test opener for that matter. There is literally daylight between him and the rest.”

“His career leave percentage is 1.7%, making him nearly five times as likely to play than Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafique, the next man on the list with 8.3%. India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal is next with 8.9%. Also consider that Dom Sibley and Rory Burns, two of the openers in the previous England regime, boasted 25.3% and 21.5% respectively.”

“When everything is in the bowlers’ favour, that is exactly how the England team management want him, Duckett to play – putting pressure back on the opposition. Leaving might be a high percentage choice for others. Not him. He always sticks to his guns.”

Hussain signed off by suggesting Australia will use Duckett’s attacking instincts to outside off-stump balls as a point to exploit but felt the batter won’t change his style of playing down under during the Ashes.

“With batsmen, however, your strengths can also be your weaknesses and I expect Australia to play on this in next year’s Ashes. They will bowl at fourth stump, with a deep point, because they know that he hits it there a lot.”

“Equally, if a player is playing that kind of shot every ball – with the extra bounce on Australian surfaces – they could nick off. But I can’t see him changing. He will give it a go and that aligns with the constant messaging from the England dressing room.”

“If a player scores runs with a particular shot, they do not want them to put it away if they get out to it. He got out reverse sweeping at Lord’s last week; scooping this. They just want it played better next time,” Hussain added.

England vs Sri Lanka 3rd Test, Day 1© AFP

England Test captain Ben Stokes has lauded the decision to appoint Brendon McCullum as the new head coach of limited-overs teams, calling it “an unbelievable move” for the future of the sport in the country. McCullum, who has already revolutionised England’s Test cricket with his leadership style, will now take charge of all formats, starting in 2025 under a new three-year deal that will extend his tenure until 2027. Since taking the reins of the Test side in May 2022, McCullum, alongside Stokes, has overseen a dramatic transformation, with England winning 19 of their 28 Tests, including six series victories out of nine.

He has been credited with improving the performance of England’s Test team through his aggressive and emboldened approach, often known as ‘Bazball’.

“I was very surprised by the news. First and foremost, I think it’s an unbelievable move for English cricket to go back to having a coach in charge of all the teams. You look at what Baz has achieved with the Test side, it’s been amazing,” Stokes told ESPNCricinfo.

Matthew Mott, who was appointed to oversee the limited-overs teams alongside McCullum, stepped down in July following underwhelming campaigns in the 2023 50-over World Cup and the T20 edition earlier this year. Now, McCullum set to steer the ship across all formats.

“I’m really excited for the white-ball team to have the opportunity to be able to work with Baz, listen to him speak, and hear his opinions. I think Jos is going to really, really enjoy having him as his coach to work with.

“And you look at all the new faces who are coming into that white-ball team now, I couldn’t think of a better person for them to come in and work under at international level for the first time. He just gives everyone the platform to go out and enjoy themselves. Baz never puts any added pressure on anybody’s shoulders,” Stokes said.

As England’s Test team prepares for a busy winter, starting with a series against Pakistan in October, Stokes faces his own challenges. The captain is currently recovering from a torn left hamstring, an injury sustained while playing for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred. Although, Stokes admitted that his participation in the first Test against Pakistan is still uncertain.

“The recurrence rate of these injuries is 50%, which is quite high. I’d rather take an extra two weeks than run the risk of potentially doing something worse and then putting myself out of the game for longer. I’m just making sure that I’m doing everything right and everything I possibly can to try and give myself a chance to being fit for that first Test,” said Stokes.

–IANS

hs/bc

The record of the most balls faced without scoring a single run in Tests is held by former New Zealand pacer Geoff Allott, who did not score a run despite facing 77 balls. That innings, against South Africa in Auckland in 2006, also holds the record of the least runs scored per minute in Test history, with Allott having batted 101 minutes. However, both of these records would seem paltry to what father-son duo Ian and Thomas Bestwick put up in a valiant display of old school first-class cricket – the art of defensive batting.

Father Ian and son Thomas, playing for Darley Abbey Cricket Club’s 4th XI in the Division Nine Derbyshire Cricket League, made just four runs despite facing a combined 208 balls, in a gritty attempt to save a match against Mickleover 3rd XI.

Opening the batting, 48-year-old Ian faced 137 balls but did not score a run. Thomas, on the other hand, faced 71 deliveries, scoring just four runs. In fact, the team ended on a total of 21 runs in their 45 overs, with extras being the top run-getter (9).

In stark contrast to the brand of cricket brought into fashion by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes at the international level, the Bestwicks decided to follow the old-fashioned route.

After clinching a draw in the game, Ian Bestwick admitted that his name had become quite popular across social media.

“It’s gone round the world,” he told BBC Radio Derby after the match. “It has been mentioned in Australia, Pakistan, Qatar. I have had friend requests from around the globe,” he added.

Ian mentioned that it grew into a fun challenge to not score a run towards the end of the innings.

“Our dressing room was bouncing. [The players] were all grinning, and thought it was brilliant. The atmosphere in our dressing room was second to none. It was brilliant. Towards the end, it became a thing where I was determined not to score,” he said.

Much like English football, England’s cricket structure also goes down to several lower divisions, with varying brands of cricket.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said he would be happy to be proven wrong on stand-in skipper Ollie Pope’s leadership credentials. At the same time, Vaughan stuck to his view that Pope is an insecure person as a leader. Pope made scores of one and 17 in England’s 190-run win over Sri Lanka at Lord’s. So far in the series, he has amassed only 30 runs in four innings. Questions have been raised over Pope being fidgety while batting and criticism has increased over his leadership abilities not being up to the mark.

Though he rotated his bowlers well and set up funky fields when required, Pope also had eight unsuccessful reviews, adding more fuel to the debate of being made the England Test captain weighing him down.

“Ollie Pope is the ideal vice-captain for England. Pope is that perfect foil for Ben Stokes. He is a very good guy, trains well and is a real team man – someone who can give tactical advice when required and is happy in the background. But he is better kept in that role, as vice-captain, than elevated to captain.”

“I would be happy to be proven wrong on Pope. But I think he is someone who is a bit insecure. I can see why they gave him the vice-captaincy to give him a boost, but he really did not need the captaincy at this stage of his career. For all the focus on Pope’s captaincy, it will be forgotten when Stokes returns in Pakistan,” wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.

He also commented on Pope being unsettled and frantic when coming out to bat at number three for England. “Not every vice-captain is going to make a captain. There are also a lot of captains who cannot be vice-captains, myself included. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be making the decision. I did not want to be the thoughtful strategist in the background.”

“I hope that Pope fights through his poor run of form. I hope he can find a way of getting that rhythm. In a game’s time, he is not going to be a captain, and it is purely about his batting. Can he find that rhythm and that calmness at the crease?”

“By giving Pope the captaincy now, I think England have given him a pressure that he did not need. It came at a stage when it was looking like he was working out how to bat at No 3 and had done well there against West Indies earlier in the summer. Then he gets thrown the captaincy.”

Vaughan also wishes to see Harry Brook being groomed as England’s next Test captain, and feels if needed, Joe Root can take up leadership mantle in an interim capacity. “Looking ahead, Harry Brook would be a better fit as captain for this side: his whole approach makes him a natural successor to Stokes.”

“But if there is another interim period when Stokes is injured and there are concerns about whether Brook is ready, what is wrong with giving the captaincy to Joe Root? It would not be backward step. He would just be seeing out a series when you know Stokes is coming back. And Stokes is still there in the dressing room anyway.”

England vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Live Streaming: When And Where To Watch© AFP

Former England captain Michael Vaughan stated tearaway pacer Mark Wood becomes a more crucial player than Ben Stokes on flat pitches, and noted that Wood’s absence from the last two Tests against Sri Lanka is a big blow. Wood suffered a right thigh muscle strain in the series opener at Old Trafford that ruled him out of the remainder of the series. England won the match by five wickets on Saturday. On day three, he left the field immediately after bowling two deliveries into his 11th over in Sri Lanka’s second innings and did not bowl on day four.

“When you get on a flat pitch, Mark Wood is the most important player for England’s Test match team. Yes, even more than Ben Stokes. Wood is that good – and his injury that rules him out of the rest of the series against Sri Lanka is a blow.”

“Stokes is a colossus. Talismanic, an incredible leader, a brilliant player. But I just can’t see how England can replace Wood. He’s just got something very special about him,” wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.

He further cited Sri Lanka’s second innings on day four’s play as an example of where England will miss Wood. With Wood unavailable to bowl, Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal batted through the morning session and gave England a target of 205, which they achieved with five wickets remaining.

“How much England miss him was evident on the fourth morning with that fantastic partnership from Dinesh Chandimal and Kamindu Mendis when the pitch got flat and it became much easier for batting. We might get a lot of those conditions in the next year or so – definitely in Pakistan, and maybe a bit in New Zealand too. England need to find a way to take 20 wickets on wickets like that.”

Vaughan further explained what makes Wood standout from other England fast bowlers. “The point of difference that Wood brings is so important. England have got to wrap him in cotton wool to try and get him available for 60 or 70 per cent of Tests in the next year. Realistically, having Wood available that much would be a great outcome for England. A bowler like him is never going to be able to play every single game.”

“Wood is now the most important cog in this England Test match wheel for them to go and beat India, for them to go and win in Australia. He’s the player that opponents would most like to see not in the England side.”

“Even Jofra Archer, who is fantastic, doesn’t bowl 95mph. This is a guy that is doing something that we’ve never seen in English cricket. There’s not many around the world that bowled at Wood’s pace with that amount of ferocity. Every time he’s come on to bowl this summer, he’s made something happen.”

“He is not only obviously brilliant for the team, he’s brilliant for the game. We used to talk about Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stokes, how they’d get spectators out the bar to go and watch. Well, get out of the bar and make sure you’re there watching Mark Wood. He is that bowler. A bowler like that doesn’t just give a team a great point of difference. It also sends a shudder to the opponents’ dressing room,” he concluded.

England captain Ben Stokes may not be playing in the Test series against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury, but he’s still involved within the England dressing room. This allowed a hilarious moment to take place at Old Trafford on Friday, where the match cameras were able to capture a man in the crowd who looked like a carbon copy of Stokes. With Stokes present at the ground, fans could also grab his laughing reaction after seeing his lookalike on the big screen. Much like Stokes, this fan possessed a ginger hairstyle and beard. When he was shown on screen, the England captain raised his thumb in approval. However, moments later, the fan would open his jacket to reveal ‘Stokesy 55’ written on the back of his jersey.

Watch: Ben Stokes’ lookalike!

Stokesy pic.twitter.com/qDZEqN4hbh

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 23, 2024

Stokes couldn’t help but grin, as the crowd also cheered the coincidence.

Joe Root’s gritty unbeaten 62 guided England to a five-wicket win in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Set 205 to win, England were faltering at 56-2 when star batsman Root came in shortly before tea on the fourth day.

But together with Yorkshire team-mate Harry Brook (32) he shared a grinding partnership of 49 in 20 overs — a far cry from England’s ‘Bazball’ approach of recent years — although a still slow outfield made boundaries hard to come by.

The match, however, was back in the balance when Brook chipped a return catch to left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, with England 119-4 and still needing a further 86 runs to win.

But Jamie Smith, fresh from a maiden Test century in the first innings, gave Root fine support with a brisk 39 during a stand of 64 as England went 1-0 up in a three-match series after finishing on 205-5.

It was another sign of the 24-year-old wicketkeeper’s admirable big-match temperament, Smith’s performances with the bat in Manchester minimising the impact of regular captain Ben Stokes’s absence with a series-ending torn hamstring.

That Sri Lanka took this match so deep into the fourth day was a testament to their resilience after they had collapsed to 6-3 on the opening morning.

They continued that fight in the field on Saturday before Smith broke the shackles with successive fours off Jayasuriya before later pulling him for six.

By the time he was bowled by Asitha Fernando, England were in sight of victory at 183-5.

(With AFP Inputs)

England head into the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford starting Wednesday with several players given a chance to prove a point after captain Ben Stokes‘s series-ending injury. Star all-rounder Stokes is set to play no part at all in the three-match contest after tearing his hamstring during the Hundred. And that means England will be without their inspirational leader for the first time since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum launched the team’s dynamic ‘Bazball’ era two years ago.

Ollie Pope, the England vice-captain, will now skipper the side even though he has led county team Surrey in just one first-class match.

England announced their team on Monday, with fast bowler Matthew Potts recalled as they opted for a five-man attack.

Meanwhile, Dan Lawrence — rarely deployed as an opener in county cricket — returns to the England side for the first time in two-and-a-half years after Zak Crawley‘s fractured finger created a vacancy at the top of the order.

Crawley suffered his setback as England completed a 3-0 whitewash of the West Indies last month.

England will be expected to achieve a similar result against a Sri Lanka side who, like the West Indies, have played just a solitary warm-up match prior to the first Test.

Conventional cricket wisdom has rarely been a part of England’s approach under the guidance of former New Zealand captain McCullum, so it should come as no surprise they have opted against replacing Crawley with a specialist opener.

Indeed Lawrence himself is in no doubt his natural attacking game is well-suited to the approach of the current England set-up.

“I think that’s the style of cricketer that Baz McCullum and Ben Stokes are generally after and my general way of going about it is to try and be quite aggressive,” Lawrence said Monday.

“Throughout my whole career I’ve played a certain brand of cricket and that has served me well so I’m just going to do the same thing. I’m just going to go out there and try to be as free as possible.”

Experience

Sri Lanka can no longer call on star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but their squad does contain experienced performers in Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne.

Dhananjaya de Silva‘s side will, however, be able to turn to another Sri Lanka great in Sanath Jayasuriya, the squad’s interim coach, who took over after Chris Silverwood, the ex-England paceman, opted against renewing his contract in June.

And former England batsman Ian Bell, also a member of the backroom staff, is on hand to provide local knowledge for what is Sri Lanka’s first series on English soil in eight years.

Sri Lanka last played Test cricket in April but they do have recent experience of upsetting the odds after defeating India 2-0 in a three-match one-day international series earlier this month.

“We have an experienced batting order,” Jayasuriya, a dynamic batsman who pulverised England attacks in all formats, told ESPNCricinfo.

“Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal — they have all played a lot of cricket.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s first Test in England, a match where Sidath Wettimuny made a superb 190 — one of several hundreds for the tourists — in a highly creditable draw at Lord’s.

And Jayasuriya believes the timing of the current campaign could favour Sri Lanka.

“The fact that we have got a late-summer tour is great,” he said. “It’s more similar to our conditions than the early summer tours.”