I'd agree on that bowling attack if everyone is fit. Tongue has earned it with his performances in the Ashes. Atkinson has an excellent home record. Archer needs to be managed better with fewer long spells - that means you need a fully fit Stokes or a spinner who can hold an end. Not sure how you bat Stokes at 8 though, unless your spinner can bat 6 or 7. Key is to bat a bit longer to give him more time off the field, which means a top 3 who can stick around and Harry Brook remembering which format he's playing.
I guess Rehan Ahmed is that option, think he could bat 7. But would probably bat Stokes 7 and Ahmed 8, would seem silly to have the other way round.
Yeah, will be interesting to see how he does in Division 1 next season. With a good start he should be in the mix. His batting improved dramatically last year, but Division 2 bowling is generally a lot worse than Division 1. Also,. he didn't bowl a huge amount - only 164 overs in 10 games. He had a good return, but he's likely going to need to bowl a lot more in tests.
I am not sure. There are so many injures that it’s increasingly just a game of starting whoever is fit.
Archer is set to do both the T20 World Cup and the IPL so is not getting much rest before the test summer.
I'm thinking more about managing his workload within a game. He was excellent in the first innings but dropped significantly in the second. Limit him to 4-6 over spells and you'll likely get more out of him over the course of the match, as he's not played much red ball cricket in several years.
You don't even have a preference? Let's assume everyone is fit (excluding Mark Wood). Mine is Stokes, Ahmed, Atkinson, Archer, Tongue.
Yeah ok agreed on Stokes at 8, I just feel 6 is a bit high. He averages low 30s I believe? He's capable of great innings but too often gets low scores. Id drop Smith tbh, we saw with Carey how having a world class keeper helps, being able to stand up to the stumps too. I've heard good things about James Rew. Ahmed also is decent with the bat so I'd focus on him for our spin option, the whole Bashir experiment has been a bit of a farce
I feel like they might bury qukcky move on from Jamie Smith as well. Just get this feeling he is next to be brutally dropped.
England are considering a player curfew, among other measures, when the team leave for a seven-week tour of the subcontinent next Sunday - The Times
Red Roses assemble 👊Head coach John Mitchell has named his 47-player squad for the Red Roses’ first training camp of 2026.@O2 | #WearTheRose— Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) January 12, 2026
I have no issue with the drinking tbh or curfew. I think there needs to be trust to set your own standards. Brook in NZ though the night before a match is bad form, and Duckett being pissed out of his face in Noosa after being 2-0 down is not a good look. If we are winning, there is no issue, but these players seem to be a bit naive with the media. Local Aussies defended the England behaviour in Noosa. The issue I have is the relaxed approach to training and preparation. I totally understand that hours of nets and training drills can be worse than taking some time out. But prior to Perth we played on a low bouncing flat deck between ourselves, surely we could've organised something else on a.similar pitch? We just looked so unprepared. The laid back style seems to be rubbing off on players like Brook too, I think he's a fantastic player but his attitude is all wrong, it's not a good environment for him IMO.
The problem is the england team repeatedly shows it cannot set its own standards when it comes to drinking, the England team getting into trouble while drinking is a continuous issue over the years. Cricket has never faced the reckoning football has with alcohol, maybe due to less media scrutiny, I don't know. From an optics side alone it's silly. There's a lack of PR sense in it all. If you keep losing the last the last thing you should want to be seen is out at a bar. You should earn that right. It would be unthinkable that an england football team lost the first two games in a world cup then everyone went out to a public bar. Then this england team clearly struggles with fitness so it's very questionable that their lifestyles are optimised. Compare and contrast the england bowlers fitness with the Aussies, despite the Aussies being much older. Not too mention the continuously amateur English fielding which ultimately is something that should be very easy to have high standards on. I think as a wider point the evidence of alcohol on things like sleep quality and recovery really makes it very questionable for any sportsmen to be drinking outside off seasons or at least certainly not in the days before games. If you are a sportsmen who does insist on drinking then you should try extra hard to have and maintain impeccable fitness, and that is very far off the case for a lot of this england team.
Alcohol is very embedded in Cricket culture in both England and Australia. According to the Daily Mail the Aussies still celebrate every test they win by drinking beer from their caps. It also says it tends to be ex footballers rather than ex cricketers who speak at the Alcohol awareness sessions the counties have put on in recent years. Jimmy Anderson said recently as well he would sometimes drink in the evenings of a test match if he didn’t expect a long day in the field the following day. Wonder if international cricket has it worse because of the long tours and lengthy periods away from home. Compared to international football and even international rugby.
Historically it has through most levels of the game. When I was at school there were a couple of kids who were heavily involved with the local cricket team, and there were regular events at the club bar. I suspect it may be a bit less prevalent now, especially in cities with a much wider outreach to Muslim communities. It's something Moeen Ali has talked a fair bit about. My uncle also played to a decent level in the 70s and 80s (county second team), and at club level it was as much about the social aspect (i.e. drinking) as the game itself.
so was football and rugby though. the latter still has shades of beers and bars, but like any money spinning professional sport it has been tamed down substantially over the last 10 years.
It is changing, but academies for county sides are a relatively recent thing and it's young players going through that system that will change it fastest. Rugby benefited most when the best players went to professional teams rather than through University teams. Any cricketer in their late 20s or over will either have gone through the private school system or through club cricket up to the age of 16/18. Stokes was playing for Cockermouth until he was 16, Root for Sheffield Collegiate. The cricket club, with it's bar, is still central to most clubs at that level staying afloat.
NEW | RFL confirms that England Rugby League head coach Shaun Wane will step aside with immediate effect after 6 years in charge. Says he “believes the timing is right for new leadership”It follows a 3-0 defeat in the recent Ashes series & is 10 months before the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/4GmEbfrevB— Dan Roan (@danroan) January 14, 2026
England are facing a crisis at tighthead prop after Asher Opoku-Fordjour was ruled out of the Six Nations with a shoulder injury that requires surgery - The Telegraph England face being without Rehan Ahmed for the start of their pre-T20 World Cup tour to Sri Lanka amid delays to his and Adil Rashid'svisas - The Telegraph
We're underway in the U19 Cricket World Cup against Pakistan. Batting first and were bowled out for 210. Currently have Pakistan 45/3 off 12 overs, including the big wicket of Sameer Minhas.
England won by 36 runs. Good, tight bowling in the middle overs from Minto, Ahmed and Albert, along with regular wickets.
Coasting along in the second match against Zimbabwe. Didn't catch their innings, but it looked similar to the Pakistan game, with tight bowling limiting them to 208. We lost two early wickets to poor shots, but are now 106/2 after 14 overs. Thomas Rew looking really good.
Yeah, and it's really nicely balanced as well with a left arm quick, off spinner and left arm spinner alongside the 3 right arm seamers. Ben Mayes has batted pretty well, but you can just see the difference between an elite prospect in Rew and a good prospect.