I've not seen enough of Rew with the gloves, but he feels like too good a batting prospect to be keeping.
Back and blooming 🌹John Mitchell has named his match day squad to face Ireland in our opening game of the @Womens6Nations.@O2 | #WearTheRose— Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) April 9, 2026
England watch in the cricket: Jamie Smith currently 138*, and Ollie Pope with a ton. Rehan Ahmed with a wicket from 8 relatively expensive overs. Looks to be a bit of a minefield at Chelmsford, so a good test for James Rew who is 22*. Ben Duckett out for 25 and Asa Tribe for 1. Emilio Gay out for 5, but Ben McKinney closing in on a double ton at almost a run a ball.
Smith eventually out for 162. Rew fell just short of his 50 Sonny Baker with a couple of quick wickets bowling first change against Yorkshire. McKinney unbeaten on 214 Bashir finished with 4-76
Daily Mail speculating about if Sussex’s Ollie Robinson will be brought back after falling out with Stokes in particular. Stokes did manage to play with Alex Hales at T20 World Cuo despite hating him so there is a precedent but he wasn’t captain there.
Crawley out cheaply yet again.26, on pitch where the opposition racked up 684-2. Surely he's got to be finished in the England team.
Not yet, but if he gets going he can be hard to stop. He's got a good range of shots, scores quickly, and is only 21. He has a habit of getting out in the 30s & 40s trying to expand his game (5 FC centuries but just 2 fifties). It's something he talked about working on with Stokes and the Durham coaches, and you saw that in his innings this week - he was almost a run a ball at 180, but slowed down to make sure he progressed. Last year he would have holed out trying to accelerate. I don't think he's ready yet - we risk another Crawley situation, although he has better footwork. He needs to string a good season together, even if it's Division 2 to really be in the mix, but he's been high on the selectors radar since he captained the U19s. If things have clicked for him, I'd expect him to feast on most Div 2 attacks. Being a leftie he feels like more of a long term replacement for Duckett rather than Crawley.
The County Championship's new substitutes rule has come under fire for being "ridiculous" amid a slew of changes in the first two rounds of the season - Telegraph.
I think the main issue is the ineligible period for players subbed out. As I understand it, if a player is replaced then they can't play for 8 days. Half of the teams aren't playing next week, so there's no impact to them from making the change.
Not a huge amount of notable performance in the second half of the county games. Asa Tribe hit 85 in a losing cause for Glamorgan. Smith and Pope both hit 80s in a draw on what sounds like a complete road at The Oval. Sonny Baker took 1 wicket in Yorkshire's second innings. Zac Crawley fell cheaply yet again as Kent batted out a draw. Jimmy Anderson took 4-18 as Lancashire defended 138.
Crawley struggled early last season in Div 2 as well, the management will want a clean break from him, it’s the easiest decision they will make this summer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cevk73ymg82o I don’t have a good feeling about how this will end. Bet they fall out again sometime before or during next year’s Ashes. McCullum has been ordered to give more interviews to the media as the ECB try the more you speak to them the less critical they are strategy
The start of a big change to county live streaming? Lancashire have put introduced a paywall for all men’s county matches https://t.co/lF9Zii2SMM— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) April 14, 2026
England want Rew to open for Somerset - appears his only way in at the moment https://t.co/XDMJmHS3Wh— Nick Hoult (@NHoultCricket) April 14, 2026
Brydon Carse has left the IPL after injuring his bowling hand. The severity is not known so it is unclear if he will be fit for the first test on the 4th June. BBC also suggesting the IPL schedule will rule out Jofra Archer from that test. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c1mkke5780no England Test captain Ben Stokes has sought to play down speculation regarding a potential rift with head coach Brendon McCullum, though he conceded their working relationship is set to "look a little bit different" this summer - The Independent. 🗣️ 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧... 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮?Our full interview with Ben Stokes is now LIVE 👇— England Cricket (@englandcricket) April 15, 2026
Maud Muir is set to make her 50th Red Roses appearance 🙌Head coach John Mitchell has named his team to face Scotland in Edinburgh this Saturday.@O2 | #WearTheRose— Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) April 16, 2026
Saudi Arabia is exploring ramping up its interest in cricket as doubts grow over the future of its LIV Golf project - The Times George Martin will give the England head coach Steve Borthwick a boost by finally returning to the Leicester Tigers squad after 14 months out injured - The Times
Only a 4 games in the County Championship, so not a huge amount of action for England hopefuls. James Rew top scored for Somerset with 86. Sonny Baker took 1-52 in the innings.